We considered examples of faith in action in the people of God. We learned that we must have faith to receive God's gift of salvation. In our faithless age (Luke 18:8), how can we develop living, active faith?
Don't be discouraged if you think you lack faith. Sometimes people
who profess belief in God are deeply ashamed when a crisis occurs and
they find their faith is weak. This may happen to you.
But don't despair. The Bible shows that even men and women of powerful
faith struggled at times with faith-testing challenges.
The Bible relates their anguish as they wrestled with their trials.
Hebrews 11:34 tells us that "out of weakness [they] were made strong
. . ." These men and women grew in faith through the crucible of challenges
and-at times-setbacks and failures.
Jeremiah's example
The prophet Jeremiah was just such a man. He was one of the people
listed in the faith chapter who suffered "chains and imprisonment" (Hebrews 11:36; compare Jeremiah 37:15-16). Jeremiah's captors not only imprisoned
him, they lowered him into a "dungeon"- apparently an abandoned
cistern-filled deep with mud (Jeremiah 38:6). This was the third
time Jeremiah was imprisoned and the most harsh. His situation was so
dire that he nearly died (verse 10).
