I've Been Thinking / Spirituality

What better word?

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.”

Isaiah 40:31.

What better way to start the New Year? This word, hope.

New Year blues

But the New Year can seem daunting.

 It can hover tantalizing in front of you. The road winds ahead with treacherous curves. Will there be more crushing disappointment, unending frustration? Will your words – pleading – fall like drops in the ocean? Disappearing into the fathomless depths, so you swallow them whole and choke on despair?

Is hope a tease?

And hope, sometimes it’s like a taunt, not a promise realised. How long heartsick, plodding forward? Is hope real or an insubstantial dream-world?

Where or in whom do I place my hope? Do I focus only on a particular result? If I am and feel constantly let down – will it lead to unmitigated despondency?

His character

Isaiah tells me to place my hope in the Lord. So, I go back to truth.

My hope rests in who He is, in His immutable character. He is Sovereign, wholly Mysterious, Loving, and Faithful. These are attributes to which I can anchor hope.

He knows the end from the beginning, is the Alpha and Omega. His understanding is inscrutable. 

Is anyone really listening?

My words far from being wasted, unheard, scorned or ignored, turn now toward Him.

He is not deaf to my cries.

Revelation 5:8 tells us this: “And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb… they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.”

These words, our prayers –  incense – a treasure, precious, heard and valued.

I turn to this – familiar, strong and sure: “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all.”

Proverbs 3:5 – 7a. The Message.

Because we don’t know it all, how could we? But we can draw closer to the One who does.

Sing it loud

As the old song goes:“We have an anchor that keeps the soul, Stedfast and sure while the billows roll, Fastened to the Rock which cannot move, Grounded firm and deep in the Savior’s love.”

– Robin Mark

We allow Him to be for us what we cannot be for ourselves; 

He – our portion, our strength, 

and our hope.

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