His Word My Hope Secures

"In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us" (Hebrews 6:17-18)

John Newton has probably one of the most heart-touching personal testimonies of any sinner saved by God's grace, beloved! Because of a hard life as a youth, Newton ended up as a crew member on ships involved in the deplorable slave trade during the 1700's. He was in and out of trouble until in a storm at sea he professed his faith in God's grace and his life changed. After leaving the sea, Newton married and he and his wife became involved in the church community. He met and became friends with a gifted writer named William Cowper and in Olney, Buckinghamshire, England where Newton served as pastor, they wrote poems and hymns together to be sung in worship services at the church. Among those famous "Olney Hymns" was the beloved Amazing Grace. Among the words written in one of the verses in this well-known hymn are those found in the title of this week's devotional thoughts:

The Lord has promis'd good to me,
His word my hope secures,
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

For Newton it was the unfailing promise of God's grace that "secured" his hope for eternal life, his assurance of his salvation. And why should we today feel just as he did about our own security before God? Because as the author of Hebrews has written - "it is impossible for God to lie"! What greater foundation could possibly rest beneath our faith than this, beloved? If God said it, He'll do it! If God promised it, He'll bring it to pass!

Let me encourage you to allow God's unfailing word to "secure" your hope today. If a slave trader turned preacher like John Newton can find assurance for the promise of God's grace, then you and I should be just as astounded at how "amazing" that grace truly is! And recall with me just where that eternal hope is leading as expressed in another verse added later and published in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852:

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun

How secure is your hope today, beloved? It is if your hope is resting solidly on God's unfailing word. May it be so in all of our lives today!

Ron