Important note:
Many people in the US commented on the timeliness of last week's devotional, the day after the presidential election in this country. The Father's Business is not politically driven. Our devotionals are scheduled months in advance. God himself chooses the date order. He designed that this series on hope should fall now. I can do no better than to quote Billy Graham: "All of us care a great deal about our country. Now that the election is over, it is important to remember that whether we are personally pleased with the outcome or not, God wants us to pray for those chosen to be our leaders.
We must also remember that no election will ever solve America's most basic problems. Only the Gospel, God's Good News, has the power to change lives, heal hearts, and restore a nation. It is my passionate, heartfelt desire to see God transform hearts and lives in every community in America, and I know you want that as well." God commands that we pray for kings and all in authority with requests, prayers, and thanksgiving, 1 Timothy 2:1-2.
To continue our series on hope:
Hope is a perspective of God, a promise of God, a position in him, and a command. We have already talked about the perspective and promise. This week we will enter in to the position of hope, and the next week the command.
Listen to Psalm 62:1. "My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him." Listen to the NKJV translation. "Truly my soul silently waits for God; From Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be greatly moved" (Ps 62:1-2).
God of hope is the essence of your Father. It is who he is, and you are in him (Rom 15:13). Be blessed with rest in the God of hope alone when your expectation is delayed. You are in the waiting room of the God of hope, anticipating and expecting as you are learning the meaning of hope. The Hebrew words for hope and wait come from the same root word. The Hebrew words translated hope mean confidence, twisting in labor pains, waiting, expectation, patience, trust, enduring, expectancy, something longed for.
Some of these meanings of hope are not for the faint of heart. Be blessed with faithfulness in the face of circumstances that look nothing like hopeful. Take refuge in him and take new courage. Be blessed as you connect with your Father in hope in a special and deep way. Be blessed with unshakable hope in him, when everything else is shaken. Stand firmly on the solid rock of God's faithfulness and timing. Be blessed with rest and quietness deep in your being that come from Jesus in you. Receive secure hope in Christ Jesus in you, the life of God flowing to you, your hope of glory (Col 1:27). He is all. Be steadfast in abundant hope by his presence in you filling up what is lacking that you can't humanly think, do, or feel.
Listen to the confident position of intimacy and hope the psalmist expressed in Psalm 84, and take your position in God there.
1 How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;
my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God.
3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young, a place near your altar,
O LORD Almighty, my King and my God.
4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house; they are ever praising you. Selah
5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you,
who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.
6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;
the autumn rains also cover it with pools.
7 They go from strength to strength, till each appears before God in Zion.
8 Hear my prayer, O LORD God Almighty; listen to me, O God of Jacob. Selah
9 Look upon our shield, O God; look with favor on your anointed one.
11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor;
no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
12 O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.
Be blessed with knowing God intends you to pass through every valley of trouble with his wisdom and grace and hope. Be blessed as the God of hope makes a door of hope in your Valley of Trouble (Hos 2:15).
Be blessed as the One who is your hope turns your trouble
into springs of hope (Ps 84:6).
