“And I will give her her vineyards from thence and the valley of Achor for A DOOR OF HOPE: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth…” Hosea 2:15
Dear Ones:
There are times in our lives when God permits circumstances which cause hope to grow thin. Though our patient expectation is very real, it seems to diminish. However, God’s faithfulness and attributes never change regardless of our attitudes, and perspectives. So, what are we to do when hope seems to hang by a thread? We are first of all to “remember.” When Jonah was in the belly of the fish, when hope was all but non-existent, he remembered…and prayed: “Then I said, I am cast out of Thy sight; yet I will look again toward Thy holy temple…when my soul fainted within me, I REMEMBERED THE LORD.” (Jon.2:4,6) When Israel was in exile, at a certain point she declared: “…Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.” (Ez. 37:11) Then will come the Lord’s word declaring to Israel that He, as their hope, “…shall put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your OWN land.” (v.14) In one of the most poignant passages in Scripture, which reveal to us what hope is, and the certainty of expectation that it embraces, Jeremiah writes: “And I said, ‘My strength and my hope is perished from the Lord.'” He then goes on to write: “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope…IT IS OF THE LORD’S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED, BECAUSE HIS COMPASSIONS FAIL NOT. THEY ARE NEW EVERY MORNING: GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS. THE LORD IS MY PORTION, SAITH MY SOUL: THEREFORE WILL I HOPE IN HIM.” (Lam. 3:18,21,22-24)
It is when the eye does not see a way forward, a “way of escape” in the hour of temptation and trial, that we are called to “remember,” to remember the Lord. Who is He at that hour, that moment? He has not changed since Jonah called upon Him, and Israel turned to him. He has not changed since Jeremiah, in the midst of a suffering nation, subject to the consequences of her rebellion against God, turns his gaze heavenward to remember…His compassions fail NOT…they are new EVERY morning. The certainty of our hope is in the unchangeableness of the compassionate, and merciful God…who, every morning is willing to meet us. He IS our hope, the object of our certain expectation. “He changes not; His compassions, they fail not. As He has been, He forever shall be…great is Thy faithfulness.”
Dear Father, You have made Your Son to be our hope, unchanging and unceasing. Strengthen our hearts to grasp afresh WHO He is, and what we are in Him. We thank You that He is the rock of our expectation. He therefore will never fail or forsake us. We thank you that your mercies are NEW every morning. Enable us to live in this reality every day for Jesus’ sake. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Love, Dad