Hebrews 11:13
These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.

In other words, the people being described here weren’t just kind of sure.  They weren’t just hopeful that maybe it would all turn out like God had said, but their faith was strong and certain.  They were absolutely convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt, and they lived their lives accordingly.  They held fast to those promises.  They wrapped their arms around them, especially during the hard times, because there were certainly a lot of hard times.

May we live with the kind of faith that trusts God implicitly.  May we live our lives as if those far-off promises have already been fulfilled.  We can fully embrace all of God’s promises, cling to them, and have hope because of them.  We can live with expectation, because even though the glimpse is a little hazy and everything seems so far away and not everything is clear just yet, those things God has said in His Word are sure.

The source of our hope in the promises of God is not just whatever faith we can muster, but it is the giver of those promises Himself.  The God who gave them is sure.  He is faithful.  He is strong.  He’s not going to let us down.  He’s not going to leave anything undone.  He’s not going to go halfway.  Our fully reliable God has given us His fully reliable word, and so His promises are guarantees that we can stake everything on.

So how does that play out in our day-to-day lives?  We simply live like everything God says is true even if it hasn’t happened yet.  We believe that everything will be fulfilled even if we don’t see it for ourselves.  We live as if what is promised in our future is a reality in our lives today.  That is a key to moving forward, to growing, to accomplishing what God has given us to do.  Those things may be far off, but they are as real as what we are experiencing right now, and someday we will get to experience that glorious future that awaits us.