King David voiced the yearning: “Let me live all my days in your sanctuary.” Our own hearts respond. Let us live, Lord, as close to you as we can get!

I’ve written before that one of my favorite stories in the Bible is only one verse in length, the simple statement that says at the moment of Christ’s death the veil setting apart the Holy of Holies in the temple and denying entrance to everyone except the high priest was ripped in two.

Christ’s death ripped apart the barrier between us and God. His body and blood, sacrificed for us, gave us the right to enter into God’s most holy presence—washed clean, spotless. The way is opened for us!

So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary. (Hebrews 6:18-19)

I feel the same yearning David wrote into his songs. I seek God, I thirst for God. And here we find that hope leads us to know Him more intimately than ever before. Hope that knows, hope that trusts, hope that is confident, hope that believes what God says—this hope brings us into the presence of the Father, ever closer to the One we long for and seek to know.

Hope — trusting what God says. His promises tell us who He is. Through His promises He tells us of His love for us and His plans for us. How can there be an intimate relationship with anyone if there is no trust in what they say or no faith in who they are? Our trust in our Father, our belief, our hope leads us deeper into Him.

Yet even as we are seeking Him, it is He who is drawing us. God, the source of all hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit will fill us with confident hope as we walk in step with Him (Romans 15:13). I love the wording of the verse from Hebrews: Hope will lead us into the innermost sanctuary of His presence. Even as we long for Him, He leads us into Himself.

Holy Spirit, fill me with strong and confident hope that leads me through the curtain.