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Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us (Hebrews 12:1).
As you run your race, all around you are witnesses to cheer you on and encourage you.
Who’s watching you? Well, Noah is. Noah understands what it’s like to be ridiculed while you’re running the race. When he set out to do what God told him to do, he looked entirely foolish. “You’re building a boat for what—a flood?” Can’t you hear their friends and neighbors laughing at him, calling him a fool. Been ridiculed lately? Maybe your family has no appreciation for this race you’re running. Perhaps your coworkers think you’re nuts for running this Christian race. Remember, Noah is watching you from the grandstands in the clouds. And he’s cheering you on.
So is Abraham, that great man of faith. God sent him to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, even though he did not know where he was going. Do you feel like that’s where God has you—going some place but he hasn’t yet told you where? Abraham kept running that race in spite of his lack of understanding. You see, Abraham knew how to run by faith, not by sight. And he’s up there now in those grandstands, just yelling his lungs out to encourage you to keep on running, even though you don’t know exactly where God’s taking you, but you know he has good plans for you.
Moses is right there on the front row in those heavenly grandstands. Moses understands the fear of the Red Sea that’s in front of you right now—that impossibility that appears to be more than you can handle, and it looks like your enemy is going to get to you soon and destroy you. Moses has been there; so he’s up there telling you to: “Keep looking at the invisible God. Don’t give up.”
Rahab’s watching you run your race. Rahab understands rejection. She knows what it’s like to be from the wrong side of the tracks, to have a sordid past. But Rahab found forgiveness, and she got right in the race, a transformed woman, and she won big time. Rahab’s pulling for you. She’s saying, “If I can make it, you can make it! Don’t quit!”
For many of you, there’s your grandmother, your grandfather, your aunt or uncle, maybe even your mother or father or other loved ones. They’re watching you from the heavenly grandstands. Their race is finished; they’ve won the prize. And they don’t want anything less for you. Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let’s run our races to win!