August 31, 2001
"The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will bring my
people Israel and Judah back from captivity and restore them
to the land I gave their forefathers to possess,' says the LORD."
' In that day,' declares the LORD Almighty,
'I will break the yoke off their necks
and will tear off their bonds;
no longer will foreigners enslave them.
"'So do not fear, O Jacob my servant;
do not be dismayed, O Israel,' declares the LORD.
'I will surely save you out of a distant place,
your descendants from the land of their exile.
Jacob will again have peace and security,
and no one will make him afraid.
I am with you and will save you,' declares the LORD.
Jeremiah 30:3, 8, 10-11a
In the midst of harsh truths and prophecy chapter 30-33 are an interlude of hope for Judah and Israel! As I thought back over all I've read recently it stood out to me just how much hope God gives his people. No matter what is going on God wants us to have Hope in him, a confident expectation that he will be faithful to his word & faithful to his promises... because he is The God of Hope!!!
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him,
so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love
and with him is full redemption.
Psalm 130:7
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassion's never fail.
They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.
I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him."
The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;
Lamentations 3:21-25
The promises are true for us today... the times & the circumstances may have changed but the heart and character of God have not! He wants us to KNOW, not intellectually but intimately KNOW the hope that he has called us to! The Hope that he has for our lives individually!
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order
that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches
of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19 and his incomparably
great power for us who believe.
Ephesians 1:18-19
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy
he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or
fade-kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God's power
until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
1 Peter 1:3