Category: A Door of Hope

The new year is usually a time for reflection.  Yesterday I read many blog posts and Facebook statuses written by folks who were looking back on the old year and looking forward to the new one.

Here at our house, we did not spend much time in deep reflection yesterday.  We were too busy caring for our son who was very ill.  We found out that you don't have much time for ruminating when you are busy counting hours between asthma treatments, keeping track of medication dosages and reading thermometers.

I did take a few minutes this morning, though, to think briefly about last year.  It was not an easy one for me personally.  I spent many weeks of 2009 bed-ridden or home-bound due to health issues.  I have not been able to care for my son on my own for several months now, and am not able to do much by way of housekeeping either.

However, it would be very untruthful for me to say that 2009 was a hard year.

Honestly, it was a year of great peace in my home.  We have leaned hard on the Lord, and found Him infinitely faithful.

I have also felt His great peace personally in my heart and soul this year.  God has been very real and close to me.

It must be said, however, that this year of peacefulness did not come about because we are very spiritual people.

It happened because we are very simple people.

• God said, "Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart."  (Psalm 73:1)

So we believed that He was good.

• God said, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."  (Psalm 118:8)

So we trusted Him.

• God said, "The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way."  (Psalm 37:23)

So we followed Him.

• God said, "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you."  (I Peter 5:7)

So we did not worry over the future.

A peaceful life is simple:  Just believe what God says about Himself.

I wonder…

What will God teach us about Himself in 2010?

I look forward to finding out. 🙂

Psalm 38

[1] O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
[2] For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
[3] There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.
[4] For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.
[5] My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
[6] I am troubled; I am bowed down greatly; I go mourning all the day long.
[7] For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease: and there is no soundness in my flesh.
[8] I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.
[9] Lord, all my desire is before thee; and my groaning is not hid from thee.
[10] My heart panteth, my strength faileth me: as for the light of mine eyes, it also is gone from me.
[11] My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore; and my kinsmen stand afar off.
[12]
They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek
my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.
[13] But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.
[14] Thus I was as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs.
[15] For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.
[16] For I said, Hear me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me: when my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.
[17] For I am ready to halt, and my sorrow is continually before me.
[18] For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin.
[19] But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied.
[20] They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is.
[21] Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me.
[22] Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.

Romans 15:4

For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

Hope comes through patience.

Oh great!

But wait, where do we find our patience?

Our patience comes through the comfort of the Scriptures.

When we read the Word, we find the stories of other Christ-followers.  Many times, I have found great encouragement reading how another Christian handled an adversity. 

Sometimes, I've even found comfort in the telling of their failures.

Everything in the Bible was written for us…that we might learn from it. 

The knowledge we glean from the Word of God teaches us about the character of God, and how He works with His children.  The more I know of the character of God, the more I can trust Him for my life.

• As I read the Scriptures,

• I find comfort there

• and I learn to be patient as God is working in me. 

That comfort and that patience give me hope!

Romans 11:33-36

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God!  how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things:  to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

There will be things in our lives that we do not understand.  In fact, we may go to our grave having never fully grasped what God was doing in a certain situation in our life.

We must, however, remember that God's wisdom and knowledge are so deep that we cannot know them.  We could search our entire lives and never understand His ways.

He is that much greater than we are. 

So why is it that we try to tell God how He should do a thing? 

I find myself constantly informing God of situations that need His intervention.  Or I go to Him in prayer, only to begin praying out my plan for how He could solve a problem.

What in the world am I thinking? 

Ah…maybe that's the problem:  I am only "in the world".  I am human.  I am not divine.  I do not have the tiniest inkling of the understanding and wisdom that God has.

Let's have the faith to stop micromanaging God.  Just let Him take care for things.  Take our hands off the situation, and with a heart full of hope in His promises, give it to our awesome God.

He has promised that He will work it to our good.  Allow this trial to work out a greater faith and trust in your heart as well. 

God, help us to leave it in Your hands.  Amen.

Romans 8:24-25

For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

How do we hope?

The above verses tell us that we "wait patiently for it."

I'll admit that is easier said than done!

But it does give us a goal, doesn't it? Sometimes it helps to simply know how to pray for hope.

Then there are times when we have no idea how to pray. That's ok. God has an answer for that too.

Romans 8:26-27

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

We must remember that God knows the future as well as He does the past. He knows what is in store for us in every situation.

When we have no hope, and we are not able to wait patiently, we can go before His throne and just simply "be" there.

There is no need for us to try to put into words the deepest longings of our hearts. He knows. His Spirit helps us.

He makes intercession for us. (intercede – to mediate between parties with a view to reconcile those who differ or contend.)

He brings our hearts and desires into agreement with the will of God; and He promises that no matter what happens in that circumstance that we are facing, it will work out for our best.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We can hope in His promises, and wait patiently for His blessing, knowing that every situation in our lives will bring about His blessing and benefits to us.

God is trustworth, and we can safely place our hope in Him.

Before we became Christians, we were in bondage to sin. I know it felt like "freedom" at times, but in truth, we were enslaved by our lusts and the desires of the flesh. We had no freedom.

Now that we have believed Christ, and have become new creatures in Him, those things that we were enslaved by should be dead to us. Instead, we should be alive to Christ and the desires that He has for our lives.

Romans 6~
[19]
I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh:
for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to
iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness.
[20] For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
[21] What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
[22] But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

• The fruit of our lives before Christ was death.
• The fruit of our lives after salvation are holiness and everlasting life.

We like that "everlasting life" part, but too often fail to practice the "holiness" aspect.

If you are continuing to practice the same sins that held you in bondage before your salvation, something is seriously wrong.

You
need to spend time in the Bible with the Lord to make sure of your
salvation; or you need to spend time in the Word to fortify yourself to
abstain from those sins. (Either way, time spent in God's Word is
profitable for us all.)

We will all face occasional temptations to return to the sins that used to hold us captive,
but with the living Word of God as our sword and the shield of our
faith, we can quench the fiery darts of the enemy and live a life of
freedom and holiness before God.