by Scott Shepard
Hebrews 11:24-29 (KJV)24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. 27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible. 28 Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them. 29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Hebrews 11 shows us a tough faith for tough times. And I believe God wants us to be tough people of tough faith in tough times.
He was well born the great grandson of Queen Victoria. He went to the Naval Academy in his country. In 1912 he was placed in active-duty, sailed on a battleship. When WWI broke out, he took his part in the line of duty. He was placed in a grenadier’s group and he went to battle, was sent to France, Italy and other places. Afterwards he came back home, was happy with his golfing and his gardening and was just doing things royalty would do. His father died and he was made King. He was proud of that position because the empire was very powerful at that time. As king he prided himself on the fact that he knew people in nearly every nation on every continent. He took a cruise one day and on that cruise he met a lady. She was facing a divorce and somehow this lady and this King became mutually attracted to each other and he decided he would marry her. English law didn’t allow that, they begged him not to do that or to postpone it. But on December 10, 1936, he abdicated the throne of England and Edward married Mrs. Wallace Simpson in 1936. And they lived in France, in a sense, as exiles. He was given the title, Duke of Windsor, she was called the Duchess. He died in 1972 she died in 1986.
He was a man that chose not to be a king, refuse the law of the land and refusing that he chose to turn from being a king to being the Duke. And in a sense living out of favor of his own countrymen and denying his royalty. In the Bible there’s a story of another man, his name is Moses and he also refused a kingdom but on higher grounds because he chose to obey God and to follow God and identify himself with his people he chose affliction and suffering rather than the kingdom of Egypt, not for the love of a woman. And when you look at this comparison when you look at the choices men make today and you look at what Moses did you realize that this was indeed a man with tough faith.
