Tuesday, March 17, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Hebrews 10-11
- Secondary Reading: Psalms 32
Key Verse
Hebrews 11:1 — “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Devotional Thought
What does it mean to live by faith on an ordinary Tuesday in March? The letter to the Hebrews answers by pointing us to a long procession of ordinary people who trusted God when they could not see the outcome. Abraham went out from Ur not knowing where he was going, looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. Sarah, past the age of childbearing, received strength to conceive because she judged Him faithful who had promised. Moses forsook Egypt, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, enduring as seeing Him who is invisible. Rahab, whose past was anything but respectable, received the spies in peace and was not destroyed with those who believed not. None of them received the promise in their lifetime; they saw it afar off, embraced it, and confessed themselves strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
This is the same faith that chapter 10 describes as our confidence before God. The law was only a shadow, a yearly remembrance of sins that could never take them away. But Christ, when He came into the world, said, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God,” and by the offering of His body once for all, He sanctified us and sat down at the right hand of God. Because of that finished work, we have boldness to enter into the holiest by a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, His flesh. The same Spirit who testifies that our sins and iniquities will be remembered no more is the Spirit who writes God’s laws on our hearts.
So how should we respond? The text tells us plainly: let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful that promised. Let us consider one another, provoking unto love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but exhorting one another as the day approaches. Faith is not a private abstraction; it is lived out in the company of God’s people, in patience, in endurance, in the daily choice to keep trusting when circumstances argue otherwise.
Psalm 32 gives voice to what that looks like when we stumble. David kept silence, and his bones waxed old through his roaring all the day long; God’s hand was heavy upon him. But when he acknowledged his sin and did not hide his iniquity, God forgave the iniquity of his sin. That is the mercy that compasses about the one who trusts in the LORD. This Lenten season, as the days lengthen and we look toward the cross, we are reminded that our hope is not in our own performance but in the one sacrifice for sins forever. The just shall live by faith—today, in the small and unseen things, as surely as Abraham did in the land of promise.
Reflection
- Hebrews 11 names people who “died in faith, not having received the promises.” Where in your own life are you being asked to keep trusting God for something you cannot yet see?
- David’s silence made his bones wax old, but confession brought forgiveness. Is there any sin you have been hiding rather than acknowledging to God?
Prayer
Lord God, we thank You for the great cloud of witnesses who walked by faith before us, and for Your Son, who came to do Your will and offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Forgive us for the sins we have hidden, and cleanse us from every evil conscience through His blood. Give us boldness to enter into the holiest by that new and living way, and patience to endure as seeing Him who is invisible. Write Your laws upon our hearts, knit us together with Your people, and keep us holding fast the profession of our faith without wavering until the day You come. Amen.
Psalm Verse
Psalms 32:1 — “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.”