May the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely. 1 Thessalonians 5:23.

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. Psalm 46:1-3.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13.

Our chapter, Hebrews 3, brought back painful memories for me and I took them to God in prayer and He helped me. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope firm until the end. Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways’; as I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

When our kids were young we belonged to a church that tried to “keep” the ways of the Old Testament, even keeping the Holy Days but with Jesus at the center. In trying to keep regulations and laws, it felt very much like we were the children of Israel of ancient times; and reading that in the context of our chapter brought back painful memories of feeling a failure. And He reminded me that that tearing that I felt deep inside was the curtain torn by Jesus. The children of Israel chose the wilderness of unbelief while wanting blessings more than they wanted Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit…and everything followed. And I couldn’t help but give thanks to God for David and his example of faithful love for God, because it was God Himself David desired above all else. I was in that church for about sixteen years before I left deeply wounded and discouraged. For about 20 years I sojourned alone reading Scripture and praying and living my busy life. And the healing, so needed, came with God with me. I was even able to let God know I was ready to return to church to worship Him with others. And learning about the Trinity and the love of God changed everything. The wilderness we live in today is different in topography and scope but one thing remains true…we have so much to learn and understand. And we learn best when our hearts are open to God and we let Him teach us. Then it becomes personal. I pray that God, the source of hope…will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.