Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Hebrews 10:23
The other day, my sweet three-year-old nephew, Owen, and my brother, his dad, were wrestling. As they were playing, Owen ran up to his mom and told her that his dad had been playing rough with him. In jest, his mom said to him, "Oh no! Bad daddy!" Immediately, Owen said, "Wait! No, he's a good dad! Were you just kidding?" Owen knows and trusts his dad's character. He knows that he has a good dad and has complete confidence in him. I've been thinking about this story ever since I heard it. It has moved me and challenged me. You see, I want to be like Owen, completely trusting in the character of God, my Heavenly Father. What if you and I had the same confidence in our Heavenly Father that three-year-old Owen has in his daddy?
Hebrews 10 is a reminder to us that God is good and trustworthy. In this chapter, the writer of Hebrews writes about what God has done for us. He writes that when we were separated from God because of our sin, God sent Jesus to die for us so that we could be made right with Him. After writing this marvelous truth, the writer of Hebrews pens this beautiful statement "Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise" (verse 23). In other words, God is who He says He is, and we can trust Him to keep His promise to us that we have the hope of eternal life if we place our faith in Him. Even when life is difficult and seems to tell us otherwise, He is good, and He can be trusted.
What are you worried about today? Are you worried about your job, friendships, your health, or the health of someone you love, finances, or other circumstances? Take comfort in this message from the book of Hebrews. God can be trusted. He keeps His promises to you. He is good, yes, even good to you. When talking about God, may we be people who say with childlike faith, "He's a good Dad." He has proven Himself to be trustworthy. Will you trust Him today?
In times of difficulty, when worry rears its ugly head, we must tell ourselves what we know to be true about God. With your journal or a notebook, write out what you know about God to be true, despite your current situation. Make a list of all of these things. If you need help, Psalm 23 is a great place to start. After you have created your list, praise God for being a good God all the time. Let your worry turn to worship of our good, trustworthy God.
The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared.
But instead, those sacrifices actually reminded them of their sins year after year. For it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. That is why, when Christ came into the world, he said to God,
“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.
But you have given me a body to offer.
You were not pleased with burnt offerings
or other offerings for sin.
Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God—
as is written about me in the Scriptures.’”
First, Christ said, “You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them” (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, “Look, I have come to do your will.” He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.
Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.
And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,
“This is the new covenant I will make
with my people on that day, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds.”
Then he says,
“I will never again remember
their sins and lawless deeds.”
And when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
