“By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.” Hebrews 11:29-31
Faith moves in directions. Sometimes it takes us through. Sometimes it brings things down. Sometimes it lifts us up. In these three verses, the writer of Hebrews shows us what faith can do when God directs the journey.
Faith goes through.
Israel stood trapped between water and an army, but by faith they passed through the Red Sea on dry ground. Faith doesn’t always remove the obstacle-it makes a way through it. What drowns others becomes a passage for God’s people.
Faith brings down.
At Jericho, God commanded Israel to march, to shout, and to trust. No battering rams, no siege engines, no strategy of men-just obedience. And the walls fell down. Faith topples what seems immovable, not by human strength, but by God’s power.
Faith goes up.
Rahab, a woman on the margins, believed God’s promise and hid the spies on her roof. She went up to protect them and in doing so was lifted up into God’s story of redemption. Faith lifts us from our past, from shame, from the judgment of the city, and sets us in the lineage of promise.
The directions of faith are clear: through the waters, down come the walls, up goes the redeemed. Faith is not static-it moves. It moves us where human effort cannot, and it proves that when God calls, no barrier is final.
Let’s pray:
Lord, lead me in the directions of faith. Take me through what feels impossible, bring down the walls that block me, and lift me up into Your purpose. Teach me to walk by faith, not by sight, and to trust that what drowns others can carry me through, what stands tall against me will fall, and what feels like shame can be transformed into testimony. In Jesus’ name, amen.
