A Moment of Encouragement
Emotions can become so intense and overwhelming that you will feel pulled undertow by the sheer weight of them. Sadness covers you, fear tracks your every step, frustration pushes against you, stress seems to smother you. You feel surrounded, backed into a corner. Your fight or flight response kicks in like wounded prey. No matter that, nothing appears to have changed, or maybe because nothing seems to have changed. Whatever the impetus, you feel the rhythm of your heart uptick as you paddle against the waves of hopelessness. Desperate to seek an intravenous injection of hope. You turn your head away from the world, and you go chasing after that feeling of relief, assuredness, security. Desperate to find respite from the noise of everyday life.
The Hebrew word for hope 'batah' has the meaning of confidence, security, and being without care; not the blasé unsure "I sure hope so" that we have come to toss out when we are tentative and unable to believe. One of the most famous scriptures known to believers and non,
"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1)
This verse shapes the formula for Christian hope and its necessary relationship to faith. When we know that our hope is birthed and secure in the confidence that comes when we have faith, certainty and no doubt, that God is watching over His Word, alert and attentive to perform it (Jeremiah 1:12) we fall victim to feelings of hopelessness less easily. Because we know that God has promised, "So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it. For you will go out with joy And be led forth with peace: The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you, And all the trees of the field will clap their hands." (Isaiah 55:11-12) our hope has firm roots in the promises of God. Therefore hope is not an emotion or a feeling to be sought after. It is our reality. It is grounded in our certainty that God is who He says He is. That every promise is founded on the unshakable character of God. Unwavering, never changing, and oh so faithful.
Don't let the pull of circumstances, stress, and emotions succeed in perverting the truth of God. The definition of pervert means to alter (something) from its original course, meaning, or state to a distortion or corruption of what was first intended. The enemy of our very souls has endeavored to subvert, twist, and contort the authenticity of our birthright as children of God. It is his hope that we will be so deceived by external variables that we will go seeking for in the external what is inherent to our nature. Hope, peace, love, and an expected end through Christ Jesus. Be encouraged that there is no situation, circumstance, or problem that will ever alter, shift, or change the promises of God for you.
Don't lose hope Beloved, our God is faithful. #soulstuff
