Do you ever feel unsteady as you navigate the currents of life? Do you ever wish you were standing on a more solid foundation as you make difficult decisions or face a challenging obstacle?
In his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul urges us to find stability in the promises of God. Don’t step away from the foundation on which you have begun to build (Hebrews 6:1). God is constant in His loyalty to us, and we must also “shew the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end” (Hebrews 6:11).
Remember that God’s word is immutable, which means unchanging. (See Hebrews 6:17.) If God says He will do something, you can count on it. He will not deviate from it. Why then, would God ever need to swear with an oath, as He did with Abraham? If His word is perfectly reliable, why would He ever have to say “I promise?” Paul tells us that it’s because God wanted us to feel even more confident as we follow Him:
God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath:
That by two immutable things [His counsel and His oath], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us.
Hebrews 6:17-18
Then, he fortifies this concept with a metaphor:
Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.
Hebrews 6:19
A few hundred years later, summarizing the teachings of the prophet Ether, Moroni used the same metaphor to describe the stabilizing effect of our faith in Jesus Christ:
Whoso believeth in God might with surety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
Ether 12:4
When you have an assurance that God cannot lie and when you have received unambiguous promises from Him, you can let go of some of the doubts and fears that might otherwise trip you up. An expectation of the fulfillment of those promises can empower you to walk confidently even in troubling and uncertain times.
Many years ago, as a college student, I heard Howard W. Hunter give the following comforting words:
I promise you tonight in the name of the Lord whose servant I am that God will always protect and care for his people. We will have our difficulties the way every generation and people have had difficulties…. But with the gospel of Jesus Christ you have every hope and promise and reassurance. The Lord has power over his Saints and will always prepare places of peace, defense, and safety for his people. When we have faith in God we can hope for a better world—for us personally and for all mankind.
“Hope: An Anchor to the Souls of Men,” Brigham Young University Devotional Address, 7 February 1993
Today, I will move forward with confidence in the reliability of God’s word. I will be grateful for the blessings I anticipate because I know “His promises are sure” (“I Am a Child of God,” Children’s Songbook, 2).