9.30.24
This week we return to our series on the Attributes of God. We will turn our attention to Hebrews 6.12-20, looking at the trustworthiness of God. We all know what it’s like to be faced with circumstances that overwhelm us. And we have deep fears that God will not be there for us. This goes back to the heart of what sin is. From the original rebellion of Adam and Eve down to our hearts today, the lie has entered our hearts that God can’t be trusted…that he doesn’t have our best interests in mind…and that we either have to take over ourselves, or at least worry and fret about it.
This is our common problem - even as believers, we wonder: “Will God be faithful to me? Will he ever give up on me? Can I count on him when things get tough? Does God really care about this pressure I’m facing right now?” And no matter how much we might believe that God is there and for me, we often feel demoralized and discouraged, beat up by life’s struggles.
So what do we do about it? The first thing our passage tells us is that trusting in God is absolutely necessary. We cannot withstand the pressures of life without him. The writer tells us that in God, “we have an anchor, firm and secure.” And while it’s a comfort to know that such an anchor exists, the first thing we need to come to grips with is the fact that we require that anchor. We will drift and be lost without it.
The whole point of an anchor is that it is able to connect us to a realm that we cannot reach. A solid anchor attaches to the bottom of the water - to a realm that is beyond our world. And being tied to that anchor is what brings security. The solid connection to that anchor is what tethers us to that security.
And of course, we all understand that we struggle in life because nothing we reach out for will bring that security. People disappoint us or die. Jobs fail us. Kids wear us down. And when we lose the security of their constancy, our hearts feel adrift. And we wonder, “Are there ANY anchors that will last? Is there anything that never changes that we can count on?” This is the common lot of humanity: we long for that kind of stability, and yet it doesn’t exist.
Ultimately, what this means is, there is no alternative to trusting in God. Nothing else can provide us the tether to stability that we long for. And unless you are connected to God, you will attempt to tie yourself to someone or something else. And whatever it is will inevitably fail you. As the Psalmist says, “The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower in the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”
We all need an anchor. And only God can provide it. And until we believe that (and take our hearts back to believe it again and again), we will be adrift in life.