Inheriting the Promise

BY Bailey T. Hurley

It was two o’clock in the morning, and I was on the floor in my kitchen, unable to catch my breath. My heart was racing, and my husband was away on a trip to visit family. I crawled to my phone and dialed my neighbor’s number. It was a risk as she was a widow in her seventies, likely unable to hear her phone ring in the middle of the night. She answered. “Please come over, something is wrong, and I need help.” She came over and sat with me as we dialed 911.

What felt like heart failure was a panic attack—my first of many in a season of fear, worry, and doubt. I doubted if God could bring peace to an anxious mind. I knew Philippians 4:6-7 backward and forwards: “Don’t worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Yet, in the middle of an episode, it was hard to grasp the peace of God. Would I ever recover my “normal”?

Hebrews 6 addresses this uncertainty—is God faithful to His promises? When Abraham’s ability to create a family seemed impossible, God promised to multiply his offspring. And to prove that He would follow through He swore an oath. Typically, in the court of law, when we give a testimony, we swear to tell the whole truth “so help me God.” We swear on a higher power, but God is the highest power so He “swore by himself” (Hebrews 6:13). Why? 

Because God wanted to show his unchangeable power even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things…we…might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. —Hebrews 6:17–18

Not only does God’s oath alone secure His promises, but God, in His love and mercy despite our doubt, sent Jesus Christ. Jesus, “the guarantee of a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:22), is the certainty of our hope. As we patiently wait for healing, answered prayer, a new community, a clean bill of health, salvation for a family member, and all the other things we are afraid to release to God, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). We now inherit all the promises of God due to Jesus, the perfect priest, who intercedes for us (Romans 8:34). 

As I worked through my anxiety, God’s promise of peace delivered me, and my anxiety became manageable. Still, I wrestle with it, and when the doubt creeps in, I like to sing the bridge of the song

“Build My Life” by Pat Berrett:
“I will build my life upon Your love
It is a firm foundation
I will put my trust in You alone
And I will not be shaken.”