Faith is Resistance Choosing the Hard Path A reading of Hebrews 11:17 28 on the Daily Bible refresh hello my friend Dr. Brad Miller here with the Daily Bible Refresh.

This is your daily reading of the Bible from a progressive point of view.

In a bit I will read the New Testament lessons selected from the Revised Common Lectionary for this very day.

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Here's today's reading reading from Hebrews 11:17 28 from the Message by Faith Abraham, at the time of testing, offered Isaac back to God.

Acting in faith, he was as ready to return the promised son, his only son, as as he had been to receive them.

And this after he had already been told, your descendants shall come from Isaac.

Abraham figured that if God wanted to, he could raise the dead.

In a sense, that's what happened when he received Isaac back alive from off the altar.

By an act of faith, Isaac reached into the future as he was blessed, as he blessed Jacob and Esau.

By an act of faith, Jacob, on his deathbed, blessed each of Joseph's sons in turn, blessing them with God's blessing, not his own, as he bowed worshipfully upon his staff.

By an act of faith, Joseph, while dying, prophesied the Exodus of Israel and made arrangements for his own burial.

By an act of faith, Moses parents hid him away for three months after his birth.

They saw the child's beauty and they braved the king's decree by faith.

Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house.

He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin with the oppressors.

He valued suffering in the Messiah's camp far greater than Egyptian wealth because he was looking ahead, anticipating the payoff.

By an act of faith, he turned his heel on Egypt.

Indifferent to the king's blind rage, he had his eye on the one no eye can see, and he kept right on going.

By an act of faith, he kept the Passover feast and sprinkled Passover blood on each house so that the destroyer of the firstborn wouldn't touch them.

Well, my friend, in today's reflection we're really exploring these powerful stories of faith expressed through the radical choices that these people made and their resistance to oppression.

Let's get into some points to ponder.

The first is about going beyond blind obedience.

The Abraham and Isaac story is often misread as promoting unquestioning submission.

However, a progressive reading reveals something deeper.

Faith as trust in life's resilience and the ultimate triumph of love over violence.

As Abraham's faith wasn't in sacrificial violence but in divine preservation of life, this challenges interpretations that use this text to promote harmful theology or divine abuse.

Another point is about choosing solidarity.

Moses choice to reject privilege and align with the oppressed reflects a core truth.

Authentic faith often requires us to give up comfort and security for the sake of justice.

He chose a hard life with God's people rather than the opportunistic soft life with the oppressors.

This challenges contemporary prosperity gospel narratives and calls us to examine our own relationship with privilege.

One more point to ponder.

It's about generational vision.

The text shows how multiple generations acting in faith for a future they wouldn't see.

Joseph arranging his burial with Exodus in mind.

Moses his parents hiding him in defiance of an empire.

This invites us to consider how our own actions today shape possibilities for our future generations, particularly in relationship to climate, justice, systematic racism and economic inequality.

Here's an action step.

Identify one area where maintaining comfort means complicity with injustice.

Perhaps it's consumer habits that exploit workers or investments that harm the environment or silence in the face of discrimination.

And choose some concrete way to step out of the comfort zone and into solidarity with those seeking justice.

And maybe document your experience and what it teaches you about faith as resistance.

We're going to come back and have a closing prayer here in just a moment, but I always want you to know that we've got a resource just for you.

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Go to voiceofgoddaily.com let's pray.

Oh God, you are the source of courage.

The divine source of courage.

With faith demands difficult choices.

Help us choose justice over comfort, solidarity over security, the hard path of love over the easy road of indifference.

Remind us that we stand in a long line of those who dared to resist an empire who chose to align with the oppressed, who acted for our futures, they would not see.

Give us the courage of their vision, their faith in determination and hope.

We pray.

Amen.

My friend, I am delighted you you chose to join me for today's reading.

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My name is Dr. Brad Miller and I'll be right here tomorrow with your Daily Bible Refresh.

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Every morning.