Listen:
Hebrews 6:17-19
17 When God wanted to further demonstrate to the heirs of the promise that his purpose doesn’t change, he guaranteed it with a solemn pledge. 18 So these are two things that don’t change, because it’s impossible for God to lie. He did this so that we, who have taken refuge in him, can be encouraged to grasp the hope that is lying in front of us. 19 This hope, which is a safe and secure anchor for our whole being, enters the sanctuary behind the curtain.
Consider:
It is sometimes pretty hard to trust, isn’t it? The world doesn’t feel very trustworthy, and with the barrage of social media and the endless cycle of news (real or not), our hope and our trust have quite possibly been eroded more than we care to admit! So what is there to put our hope in? The answer seems simple…God! The writer of Hebrews writes of two unchangeable things: God’s purpose and God’s truth. It goes against the very nature of God for God to lie or for God’s purpose for us to change.
Our hope, therefore, is rooted in the fact that God cannot break God’s word. It is a strong encouragement, isn’t it, to know our security is tied to the absolute reliability of the Almighty.
The difficulty comes in our very human lens of seeing the world around us. We sometimes miss the many examples of God’s constant presence and unshakable trustworthiness. We see a marred image of God in the failings of ourselves or others, and often struggle to move past the frail vision of a broken humanity to see that God is still, and always will be, at work! But hope…that thing which won’t die in the face of fear, or distrust, or in the reality that we are not perfect. Hope is that thing that continues to reflect God’s character to us. Hope is the very thing that reminds us God is there!
When the waves of life crash against you, remember that your hope is not a fragile human emotion.. It is guaranteed by a God whose character is unshakable, unchanging, and bent toward love, every time.
Respond:
Individual: Make a short list of the hopes you are holding, right now, in your life that remind you to maintain that trust in the ever present God even in the midst of the “storms” of life. Take a moment to be thankful for the unwavering hope that comes from knowing God is always always present!
As a family: Write down 3 ways you’ve seen God “anchor” your family over the last year…perhaps it was in a person who helped during a difficult time, perhaps it was scripture that you went back to time and again. Take a moment to be thankful for the unwavering hope that comes from knowing God is always always present!
Pray:
Steadfast God, we cannot know what storms will hit us in our lives, but we are so grateful that our hope can lie in knowing you will never change in your love for us.
Amen.
