The very fact that they were content to die without themselves attaining, if so God’s purpose might be accomplished to their seed, invests them with a peculiar grandeur of unselfishness. Their faith was essentially the same principle as that of Christians, even though the final object of Christian hope were hidden from their eyes; while their dwelling in tents as strangers, and the home and city seen afar off, are apt emblems of the present life and the heavenly citizenship of Christians. – H. D. M. Spence-Jones, ed., Hebrews, The Pulpit Commentary (London; New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1909), 300–301.Hebrews 11: 14 says “…that they seek a country.” The word “country” (πατρίδα) can be translated “fatherland.” The concept is that in faith (i.e. trust and reliance upon YHWH’s promises) Abraham and the patriarchs believed (intellectual awareness) and believed (Spiritual grasping) that YHWH would eventually deliver on the things that brought them hope.
I can’t understate the role of hope in the life of the Christian. Even more so for Christians that live every day with suffering. Hope is the present realization of our Spiritual longing to be in our heavenly Fatherland. I want to have the faith of the patriarchs! I want to believe that everything I’m looking forward to will be realized. I want to be the kind of Christian that Moses, Jonah, Abraham and David were.
May God encourage and fill you with the kind of Spiritual hope, reliant upon faith, despite the outcome of our daily experience, to know, hold and realize everything that God has promised you!