Holdfast

April 30, 2017 · Updated May 3rd, 2020

I went to church today with the six youngest children. The pastor preached on Hebrews chapter 11, the “Who’s Who” of faithful people in the Bible. 

Every verse starts with the same phrase, “By faith…” 
By faith Noah built the ark; by faith Abraham offered Isaac; by faith Sarah had a baby in her old age; by faith the prostitute Rahab was not killed because she hid spies.

There are many people mentioned, and their names are still remembered long after their deaths – because of their faith.
The pastor said if our faith was sagging or lagging – we should read Hebrews chapter 11. 

I began to think of how my faith was not just sagging – but battered by an emotional hurricane this week. Then God brought a memory vividly to my mind. Years ago, I took a course to become a marine docent. That’s a fancy term for someone who teaches you about the ocean.

On our first field trip as trainees, we went tide pooling. I live along the twenty miles of New Hampshire’s rocky coastline, and it provides a perfect outdoor classroom experience.  Our teacher explained that the ocean rocks are coated in a thin layer of bacterial slime, and it’s very easy to slip on them. He explained that if a wave hit you and washed you into the ocean, seaweed on the rocks was anchored by a “holdfast.”

I found this definition: “Holdfasts are different from plant roots because they do not absorb moisture or nutrients; they serve only as an ANCHOR.” 

Our teacher told us that the holdfast was so strongly connected to the rocks it could literally save our lives. If we were swept out to sea by a random wave, a grip on the holdfast could make all the difference.  He tested it himself during a rough-water experience.

Then God brought it to my mind that He is my “Holdfast.” 

“Holding fast” in the Bible translates to a phrase that means ‘hold your position or hold your gaze.’ 

Deuteronomy 10:20, “Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name.”

Deuteronomy 30:20, “…and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

Joshua 23:8, “But you are to hold fast to the Lord your God, as you have until now.”

Philippians 2:14 says “Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, HOLDING FAST to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”

Holdfast your gaze, your position, your mind to the word of life.

God brought me a beautiful and loving picture of Himself – my holdfast. He reminded me that His word is an anchor in life’s hurricanes, a lifesaving tool that I should never take my eyes off of if I am to remain faithful like the heroes of Hebrews 11.