It's 3:07 am Wednesday morning. I awake with an insatiable need to read Hebrews chapter 6. I feel my way around the dark bedroom, gathering my Bible, reading glasses, notebook, and the dog. I stumble to the kitchen and flip on the coffee maker and fall into a chair in the corner of the living room. I open my Bible and begin to read.
Chapter 6 begins by talking about going past the elementary principles of Christ and digging into the “meat” of the Word. It goes on to say that God does not forget our work and labors of love, and that we should remain diligent in our hope. God made a promise to Abraham, that because there was no one greater, He swore by Himself to bless and multiply Abraham. OK, this is all great, but what is it that I need to see at 3 in the morning Lord? I keep reading. Actually, I go back to the beginning of chapter 6 and start over, still wondering in my mind “what about this is so important at 3 am?”
I get to verse 17 and I see a word I am not familiar with. And there it is again, in verse 18; the word is Immutability/Immutable
"Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” Hebrews 6:17,18 NKJV
Immutability: “huh? What does that word even mean?” I grab my phone and use my Bible app to look that scripture up in the King James Version (my everyday Bible is the New King James version). It's the same word. I bust out my concordance and dictionary.
Webster's dictionary defines immutable as not capable or susceptible to change. Middle English from the Latin “immutabilis” means unable to change.
The Strong's Concordance Greek dictionary defines immutable and immutability as unchangeable, or unchangeability.
Now my curiosity is at it's peak. I look up Hebrews 6:17 in yet another version. The Message version combines verses 16 & 17, it says, “When people make promises, they guarantee them by appeal to some authority above themselves so that if there is any question that they'll make good on the promise, the authority will back them up. When God wanted to guarantee his promises, he gave his word, a rock-solid guarantee – God can't break his word. And because his word cannot change, the promise is likewise unchangeable.”
I begin to look up scriptures that say God cannot lie. I immediately find four of them.
Numbers 23:19 “God is not man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie or relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent.”
Titus 1:2 “in the hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began.”
And finally, 2 Timothy 2:11-13 “This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.”
My mind is now racing with excitement. This is literally affirming all God's promises made to us! I am on the edge of the chair just waiting for my husband's alarm to go off. I can hardly contain myself, I have to tell someone what I just discovered! The alarm finally goes off, he gets dressed, comes in for his morning coffee and sits down to read morning devotions with me. I excitedly tell him that I have something different to share today. I begin reading Hebrews 6:17-18 and ask him if he knows what “immutability” means? He has no idea. I begin to show him what I have been studying for the last 2 ½ hours. He suggests that maybe I should write a blog article on the subject, I agree. I send him off to work, while I contemplate what angle to approach an article.
Nothing is working, I can't put it together. I decide to walk away and just meditate on “immutable” and the scriptures that I have read for a little while; something will come to me (it usually does). Around 8:30 am, I open my email and see something from FREED magazine. It is an invitation to contribute an article for the next print edition. The theme is: “Fearless: The Art of Living in Freedom.” That's it! Now I know exactly why I was awake at 3:07 am! God's unchanging promises had nothing to do with a blog article about His promised blessings (although I may still write that article too). No, this study had everything to do with sharing my testimony of living free from fear.
Fear is a normal, although unpleasant, emotion. Fear masquerades under many other titles: anxiety, worry, strong anticipation, alarm, and apprehension, to name a few. God knows I have faced fear, and will face it again and again in this life. He has given me His promises that He will deliver me from or through any situation. I do not have to live my life in a state of solicitude. I am exempt from onerous limitations. He has given me the tools and instructions needed to live free from any fear this life may present.
You see, the Word says that He will never leave me, nor forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6). I have no reason to fear what man can do to me (Hebrews 13:5,6). Jesus says that He gave me peace, that I have no reason to worry or fear (John 14:27). God will come with a vengeance to save me (Isaiah 35:4). That He is with me and will hold me up when I cannot walk (Isaiah 41:10). I can face my enemies because God will give me the words to speak (Jeremiah 1:8). God loves me with His perfect love, and in it there is no fear (1 John 4:16-18).
I read a quote this morning that spoke volumes to me regarding living free from fear; “We are truly free when we know the truth about ourselves and the world. This means throwing off the lies and deceptions to which we are so often captive.” [Dr. Art Lindsley: Seven Implications of the Biblical View of Freedom for Our Lives; 7/14/16: Institute for Faith, Work & Economics; www.tifwe.org]
Fear is based on lies. When fear comes strolling thru the backdoor of my mind all I need is faith, and to BELIEVE that He is with me, and He will not forsake me. I can draw from my past recollections of the hope that has always been inside of me. I have faced many terrible situations in my life; but, I can always look back and know who was with me and who got me thru it. When I acknowledge that it was Him that held onto me, He sent the right people at the right time, then I am able to draw strength from those memories of hope. My job is to call out to the one who loves me as no other. He will hear me, and He will answer me.
That early morning meeting was a “God-wink,” He knew about the invitation. He knew what direction the article should be written from. He knew I needed those wee hours of the morning to be alone with Him to learn what He needed me to know. He knew I would see the email 5 ½ hours later and I would be brainstorming an article on God's promise that He will be with me no matter what storms may come. He will deliver me from evil. He always has and He always will.
His Word is a living document and His promises never change, they are immutable.
*Update: though this article was not selected for FREED magazine's fall print edition, God's purpose for my early morning Bible study remains...to share His unchanging promise of living in freedom from fear.