Verse for Today: Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Psalms 71:14 – But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more.
A casual look at the world reveals that the world has become a hopeless place. The more economic and business techniques experts employ, the more complicated the world economy would become. More summits have ended up in more conflicts and fights among the nations. Money power has failed to contain catastrophes. Individual lives have become battlefields of emotional entanglements. The technological revolution and globalization have not given us any hope to go forward. There is thus an air of hopelessness that prevails all around us today. In the midst of it all, those who look to the Lord have unshaken hope for the future. No matter what the complications in the world are, God’s children find hope in their lives because their lives are governed by the God of hope. When we put our hope in the Lord we can always look forward to a brighter tomorrow because our Lord controls our future. Because He is the Lord of our lives, we can enjoy the assurance of His plans for us. We can have peace in spite of calamities around us. We can have satisfaction when we trust in the Lord’s resources to meet our needs rather than in the diminishing resources of the world. We depend on His ways to go forward instead of the faulty ways of the world. When the promises of world leaders are found to be empty, we can find the unbroken and powerful promises of our Lord to sustain us. It helps us to keep praising Him as each day passes by with His abundant grace in every circumstance. This confidence is granted to us through the Word of the Lord which is planted in our hearts and the Spirit of God who indwells in us. He gives us confidence and courage in the wake of hopelessness everywhere. This hope makes us to praise the God of all our hope.
Dear friend, is the hopelessness around you put pressure on you and take you through the route of despair in life? Are you tossed around by the seeming dark and cloudy environment around you? But in this hopeless world, there is hope in the Lord Jesus. He is the hope of the world and in Him our future is secure. His grace is sufficient for every situation. He gives peace in troublesome situations. He bestows courage in times of despair to go forward. When we trust Him, He takes us forward and prepares our way. He removes hindrances and smoothen our pathways. Even when we cannot see any prospect to move forward, if we are submitted to His perfect will, our Lord will fulfill His plans for us. The times of the prophets of God like Elijah, Elisha, Jeremiah, Malachi and others were times of great despair. But God put hope in their hearts to continue to serve Him without regard to consequences. Hope for them was not in any event or situation, but in their Lord and Master. Those who wait for Him are sure to renew their strength and fly at higher vistas like eagles. Joseph waited for Him for long and one day the doors of his dungeon opened to show him how the Lord fulfills his old dreams. God gave Isaac to Abraham when there was no hope. He put David on the throne in Jerusalem against all hope. He brought captives back to Israel and rebuilt their temple with its walls. He reinstated Mordecai at a seemingly hopeless moment. He gave Hanna, Rachel and Elizabeth children in hopeless situations. He put the life of Job back on its track when all hope was gone and proved that all things were possible with Him. He will at His time reestablish a kingdom here on earth as the Prince of Peace and put hope back in this hopeless world. He is our Lord in whom we can put our faith and hope in our dark and cloudy situations which prevail today in this hopeless world. It is a great privilege for us to enjoy hope in Him for a brighter tomorrow and praise Him for all that He will do for us in the days to come.
Psalms 31:24 – Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord. Thought for TodayArdent faith in the Lord fills us with relentless and undiminished hope in Him against all odds to take us forward.
