Are You Proud of Me?

My grandsons live in Nebraska so I often write to them or call. Last week I wrote Ashton, age 12, telling him how proud his Papaw and I are of him for being baptized. In their church, even youngsters have to stand and testify about what they believe about Jesus. Our daughter, Miriam, reported that Ashton, though fearful, had read in a clear, loud voice before his large church congregation. I was proud of him and told him so.

I’ve been asking the Lord over many days how he wants me to pray for Buck, my dear son-in-law, who has a new tumor in each lung and has just found out he has cancer.  I want God to be proud of me, pleased with me, not ashamed of me in this trial. In seeking God’s mind, I thought of Hebrews 11, the faith chapter. I was familiar with the long list of men and women who had faith: Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Samson and more.  On first reading it seemed there were two categories of people; those who were delivered after their prayers, and those who weren’t.

Daniel in the lion's den

Exhibit #1: You recall Daniel, who, because he feared God, had jealous enemies. In vain they looked for fault in Daniel’s business, so these men attacked his worship of God, and baited the king into signing a law against worshipping God.  Knowing this, Daniel continued praying “as he had done previously,” (Daniel 6:10) and was thrown into the lions’ den.  A wonderful miracle happened that night, as God sent an angel to shut the lions’ mouths. There was deliverance for Daniel, and commendation from God for his faith.  

The stoning of Stephen

Exhibit #2: Stephen, a follower of Jesus, is identified in Hebrews 11 as ‘stoned to death’. Like Daniel, he was a man filled with the Spirit. When he had the opportunity, he told the large crowd of Jews that they had betrayed and murdered the Righteous One, the promised Messiah. With hands over their ears, and screaming furiously, the leading religious leaders stoned him to death. It was death for Stephen, and commendation from God for his faith.

The people listed in Hebrews 11 were commended for believing in God’s promises, but Hebrews says that none of these men and women of faith received what they were really looking for (Hebrews 11:39). And what was that? That God was proud of them, not ashamed of them? If not deliverance, or the miracle promised in Isaac, or Moses’ momentous leading of Israel through the Red Sea, what then?

I told the Lord I needed to know. We women need to know because we want our Father to be proud of us. We want what he wants, don’t we?  The answer is in Hebrews 11:16 and it is easy to see why God is so proud of them: 

“They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” (ESV)

He prepared for them

a city.

“They were after a far better country, a heavenly country.”  (MSG)

Miriam and Buck have three boys, soon to be 12, 10, and 6. Wouldn’t the Lord want them to have a father?  Perhaps… and he gives me faith to believe Him for that. What are your deepest needs, hardest trials today? Are you looking for deliverance, healing, help out of deep financial trouble? God is willing and able to give those answers.  

But what if he doesn’t?  We can still be sure that if we consider ourselves strangers here, like the men and women of faith did, we’ll be women who look more toward eternal things. We’ll look ahead to the better country God has prepared for us, for our beloved children, and grandchildren. It’s a far better place than anything we have on this fallen earth. That eternal perspective will change the way we think and act. And He will be proud of us, “not ashamed to be called our God”.

Susan Hamlin, Prayer Chairman
CBS Rutherfordton Day Class