Friday Thoughts - Hope in the Lord

It seems like everywhere you turn these days, there is more and more bad news. The economy, people turning from God in astounding ways as never before, wars, murders, etc. We all hear it - even my family with no TV- and it bombards our lives at every turn. It is even directly affecting many of us in untold ways.

In the midst of all of that, what has been in my heart for the past couple of weeks is that my hope is not in this world! It never was meant to be. Thank God for that - there isn't much to hope in it anyway. So, last night I was praying for a few specific things and I asked God to give me something in His Word that I could lean on right NOW, in these uncertain times. I opened my Bible and turned right to Psalm 37. In this particular Bible, there is a little one line subject above each chapter and here was the subject above Psalm 37:

'He will not forsake His saints'

Praise God! I began to cry in thankfulness - for answering my prayer and for the promises in His Word. You have to read that whole Psalm for yourself - especially if you are feeling a little hopeless today. Here are a few things that stood out to me:

vs. 3-4 - 'Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.' - I love the phrase "befriend faithfulness". That just spoke to me. True friends are always there - good times and bad, so I must remember to be faithful to my Lord, my faith, my commitments at all times.

vs. 5 - 'Commit your way to the Lord; trust in Him and He will act.' - What a promise for those who commit their ways to God - He will act! On my behalf!!

vs. 12-13 - 'The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He sees that his day is coming.' - In the midst of the abortion rights, homosexual marriage rights, anti-Christian movements, etc., isn't it encouraging to know that God is laughing at them! Their plots may last for short victories, but God knows who wins in the end, and we should remind ourselves of that as well!

vs. 23-24 - 'The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.' - This verse means so much to me, because even after all these years serving Him, I still do dumb things and make mistakes and "fall", but if I delight in the Lord's way, then even when I fall, He is there holding my hand and lifting me back up again. Thank you Jesus.

vs. 25 - 'I have been young, and now am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging bread.' - that is one of my favorites of all time, because I can know that in spite of any circumstance this world goes through, I can trust in the Lord.

There are so many more great verses in that Psalm, that I could truly even copy the whole thing, but you should read it for yourself.

After reading all of that, it got me thinking about hoping in God. Here are some other verses I found to encourage your soul today:

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Psalm 71:14 But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

Psalm 33:18 Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;

Psalm 38:15 For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God.

So many promises in God's word. I am thankful to know Him today and to know that I can hope in Him, even when everything around me is going wrong. There is great peace in that. He truly does give us peace when we fix our minds on Him.

I will end with this verse as a prayer for you (and for me!):

Romans 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.