Read Hebrews 10:23, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful."I once heard a powerful story in a sermon that really had an impact on me. The story takes place on a battlefield. As the battle is raging, the soldiers are bombarded and must run to safety in a trench. One man doesn't make it to the trenches. He is shot down and lies in the middle of the field gasping for his last breath. His best friend sees him lying there dying, and he tells his commander that he is going out to get him. His commander is adamant and tells the soldier that he absolutely cannot go out into the hostile area under any circumstances. His friend is already dying, and if he goes out to get him, he will surely die too. It is not worth it. Ignoring his commander's warning, the soldier runs out into the unprotected field and drags his friend back to safety. By the time they reach the trenches, his friend is dead, and he has received a fatal gunshot wound himself. When his commander sees what the soldier did, he is absolutely livid. "I told you not to go out into the hostile area! Your friend is dead, and now you're dying as well! It wasn't worth it!" the commander screamed. "Yes, it was worth it," replied the soldier, "because of what my best friend said to me when I arrived." "What could he possibly have said that would make this worth it?" yelled the commander. "When I got there," replied the dying soldier, "my best friend simply said, 'I knew you'd come.'"
What a powerful story that illustrates Hebrews 10:23 so well. In the story, the dying soldier held to the hope that his best friend would come for him. He had faith that his friend wouldn't leave him alone. He didn't waver in that belief as he laid there suffering alone, simply telling his friend, "I knew you'd come." Why did he have that much hope in his friend? Simply because his friend was faithful. He was someone that was trustworthy and wouldn't ever let him down. Do you have as much hope in your Savior as the soldier had in his friend? When you are struggling, do you place your faith in God, knowing in your heart that all you have to do is wait patiently for Him to show up?
Hebrews 10:23 has been one of my favorite verses since high school. In this verse, we are urged to "hold unswervingly to the hope that we profess." The Greek word that the NIV translates as "hold unswervingly" means, "to hold fast, keep secure, keep firm possession of" (www.blueletterbible.org). Isn't this a powerful image? If we claim to be Christians, we have declared that our hope is in Christ. Therefore, we are to hold fast to that hope, no matter what. The NAS translates this as, "hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering." We see in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is being "sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." As believers, we shouldn't let circumstances cause our faith to waver. Our hope should be firmly rooted in Christ. When the storms come, we are to take hold of our hope, because a faith that wavers is no faith at all. I think James describes this well in James 1:6 and 8 when he says, "the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind [...] being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." Are you like a wave tossed back and forth by the wind, or do you hold unswervingly to the hope you profess??
The author of Hebrews also tells us in this verse the reason why we should hold fast to our hope...because "He who promised is faithful." God is the only one in the world who is constantly faithful 100% of the time. Faithfulness is part of His character. He is constant and never changes ("I the Lord, do not change," Malachi 3:6). We can hold fast to our hope without doubting, because we are able to rest in the truth that He is faithful. He holds to all of His promises all of the time. So when He says, for example, "I will never leave you or forsake you," you can be completely confident that He will hold to that promise (Deut 31:6)!
What circumstances in your life are hindering you from holding unswervingly to your hope in Christ? Sickness? Financial trouble? A broken relationship? A difficult decision? Trials? The uncertainty of the future? Whatever you are experiencing right now that is causing you to doubt, I encourage you to remember the faithfulness of God. You may not feel like He's there with you right now, but I assure you that He is. This lesson is just as much for myself as it is for any of you. Since we've been married, Lee and I have faced many hardships, especially with his health, schoolwork, and our finances. Though these trials often lead me to worry and discouragement, I must remember the faithfulness of our Savior, and put my hope in Him~
