“Now without faith, it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”
-Hebrews 11:6
Hebrews 11:6 is in many senses a great summary of this entire chapter. A chapter that revolves around faith and men and women who walked with God through faith and experienced the reward of faith. That’s what I love about Hebrews 11:6. Without faith, it’s impossible to please God. If we want to please God, that means we must trust God. We must follow God with faith in him. Since the one who draws near to God must believe that he exists, that’s obvious.
Hebrews 11:6 Reminds Us to Seek God
The God who rules and reigns over all is the One who rewards those who seek Him. Let us long to seek God and find our reward in Him.
In order to please God, we must believe that God exists. But even the obvious there, oh, we’ve got to be careful that we are constantly reminded by this reality. When we pray, we’re not just saying some words into thin air. We’re speaking to a God who exists. A God who hears us. A God who is working in response to what we’re saying. So don’t just jump over this phrase must believe that he exists. We need to be reminded all the time he really exists. We’re talking about him right now and we’re about to talk to him in a moment. He is going to hear us.
Hebrews 11:6 Reminds Us God Rewards Those Who Seek Him
And not only does he exist, but the end of Hebrews 11:6, the best part, he rewards those who seek him. Ah, I want to be a man who seeks God. And I want to pray that that would be the commentary not just for my life, but your life. That you are a man, a woman, a student, child who seeks God, and in seeking him, finds reward in him. Oh, God, may it be so in my life. May it be so in the lives of those are listening right now.
We believe you exist. We believe that you not only exist, but you’re listening to us right now, that you’re hearing us as we speak, as we call out to you. Oh, God, we humble ourselves. The more we think about this, this is so humbling that you are listening to us right now. God, I’m just awed in a fresh way by this reality, not just talking, like doing a podcast.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray For Help Seeking God
You’re listening right now to me, to us, as we pray. You not only exist, but you reward us when we seek you. Oh, God, help us to seek you. In Jeremiah 29, God, help us to seek you with all our hearts. Help us to seek you more than anyone else, more than anything else in this world. God, we pray that you would make us a people who seek you day and night and all day long, and really seeking you.
And God, we trust that when we do, we will find reward in you. Not even meaning and gifts from your hand, but actually you. You are our reward. Knowledge of you, relationship with you, love for you, this is what we want in our lives. This is reward in our lives. Help us to live for it. Help us to live for real reward, not the fake superficial empty rewards of this world. Oh, God, make us a people of faith who please you, who believe that you exist, and who find reward in seeking you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
