Psalm 42:11 Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again– my Savior and my God! It’s kind of strange how it’s so easy to get discouraged. Maybe it’s the weather (it’s stormy this morning). Maybe there are just so many people who feel the need to poke holes in my dreams (some of the holes are quite legitimate). This school project I’m working on is so huge that sometimes it seems overwhelmingly impossible that it will ever get off the ground. But, God is bigger than my storms and bigger than all my limitations. He is wiser than I am and knows far more than I do about what resources He has available. When I get discouraged I try to remember that God is not always predictable because then why would I need faith? It’s hard to cling to something invisible, especially when I’m trusting Him for something that’s so dear to my heart. On the other hand, what other choices do I have? I can’t trust in my own abilities, even though I want to work as hard as I can. There’s so much I don’t know. Trust other people? They’re just as limited as I am. Sure, God can work through them and through me, and He often does, but ultimately the answer will come from Him and His resources.
Psalm 118:22 The stone rejected by the builders has now become the cornerstone. This verse made me smile because I think this is how all of us at Hope Inspirational Schools feel. We’re the rejects of society trying to build something revolutionary. Psalm 118:25 Please, LORD, please save us. Please, LORD, please give us success. Yes, this is my prayer on a daily basis. Save me from this situation in life and please give us success with this venture. Psalm 118:28 You are my God, and I will praise you! You are my God, and I will exalt you! Ultimately, God is supreme. Worship is the way out (read about it in the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day). No matter what the circumstances I find myself in, He is my God. I will exalt Him. That’s sometimes easier said than done, and sometimes it takes me a little while to remember that; however, even in my darkest days God has given me a lot to praise Him about. Yeah God!
Romans 15:13 So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Two thoughts today: 1. Redemption – what?! More fancy Christian-ese? Redemption just means the act of purchasing back something previously sold. And, no, I’m not talking about salvation. I’m talking about hope. John and I had the privilege to speak at a youth event at a school this week. We were the “what not to do” and “consequences” portion of the event. We were also the visible proof that even when we make mistakes there is hope. Our messages were one that, while we reminded them that there are consequences to their actions, there is redemption for a life gone astray. Both John and I have had things happen in our lives that caused us to go off the path that God originally intended for us to be on. My prayer has always been that God would use those events to reach others (heaven knows, if I had to go through them they’d better be good for something!). And God redeems the past – He takes the years that were lost wandering and restores us to the place He has for us and the plan He has for us. 2. Hope – Interestingly, my life has been filled with various types of hope lately. I spoke about hope in the section above – hope that God can bring light out of a dark time in my life and hope that He will redeem my past and create a beautiful future. The other hope I’ve been spending a lot of time with lately is actually HOPE Inspirational School (http://www.his.edu – still under construction). It’s a school that I’m actually getting to help found! It’s based around experiential and project-based learning. It’s environmentally friendly. It’s community outreaching. It focuses on addressing not only the intellectual growth of its students, but also the emotional, physical, and spiritual growth. It’s incredible! I’m totally not doing it justice in my meager description. Give it a week or two and check out the website for a much more eloquently put description.
Romans 11:3-4 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I alone am left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.” And do you remember God’s reply? He said, “You are not the only one left. I have seven thousand others who have never bowed down to Baal!” There are so, so many times when I wonder if anyone else ever feels the way I feel, or if anyone else is in the same position I’m in. This verse really speaks to that. Elijah was feeling all alone, like he was the only one left – alive – that was Godly. And God tells him that, not only is not the only one left, there are 7000 others like him. He just hasn’t met them or seen them, but they’re there! I’ll bet that happens a lot now, too. We feel incredibly alone or like we’re the only one doing the right thing, but there are thousands of others doing the right thing just like us, we just can’t see them or don’t know of them. It’s like the news. There’s probably a lot of good news in the world, stories of people who are kind and honest and good, but they don’t really seem to make the news very often. Instead we hear the stories of how bad things are and how dishonest people are and all the crime and tragedy that is taking place. Sure, there’s good stuff, too, but it’s not “news-worthy.” It’s there, we just don’t see much of it. It’s just like Elijah. He was hearing the crime and tragedy, but didn’t get the good stuff very often so he felt alone. But, as God reminded YOU ARE NOT ALONE! Just like faith, which is something hoped for but not seen, sometimes we just have to believe that we’re not the only good people or struggling people out there. There are good stories to counter the bad. And there’s a God who reminds us that we aren’t alone. Even if there are no other people doing the right thing or surrounding us, GOD NEVER LEAVES YOU!!! You’re not alone. And that’s hope.
Luke 2:23 The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” In the Old Testament, according to the Law, the firstborn son had to be dedicated to the Lord. It was basically a tithe of your family. I don’t know if it was described that way, but it was very much similar to the the tithe. It came from the first fruits of the harvest, in this case the first child of the family. How very fitting that Jesus was this tithe (or maybe gift would be a better word). He would be that tithe in every sense of the word, even down to His death on the cross as a sacrifice. He was dedicated to the Lord, and He would spend several years prior to His death telling Israel about the Lord and what He was truly like. And, like all tithes, He was sacrificed, given away. But it wasn’t us giving to God, it was God giving to us. In the same way that Jesus was Mary’s first born and dedicated to the Lord, Jesus was also God’s first and only Son who was dedicated to the Lord. In our selfishness and pride, we would have kept Him among us because we didn’t understand the full weight of our sin. But in God’s love and humility, He sacrificed His Son, His tithe, His gift, for us, to give us a new gift of forgiveness and hope. Merry Christmas!
Matthew 12:21 And his name will be the hope of all the world. This is actually Jesus quoting from Isaiah (42:1-4) regarding a prophecy made about him. I thought it was fitting because during this time of year (Christmas) the name of Jesus is heard more often (since that’s the real reason we celebrate). His name is hope. Hope is good, especially right now when things are so decidedly bad with our economy, wars, government and all the little details that stress us out. Hope is that flickering flame that is the last thing to get extinguished. Hope, no matter how tiny, holds on through even the worst of times. Jesus is there all the time, even when there’s no money in the bank and no jobs to be had; when there’s corruption all around and no one to help you; and when the world has come crashing down and your heart is shattered. He is hope. His name brings hope because He is bigger than the storm. He has the power to calm the storm. He has conquered all these things and more. He is the rest of your heart, the quiet place to grieve, the safe harbor to weather the waves, the hand you can hold, and the champion of your cause. We all need hope to keep moving forward. Jesus is that hope. Have you tried Him lately?
Zephaniah 3:17 For the LORD your God has arrived to live among you. He is a mighty savior. He will rejoice over you with great gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will exult over you by singing a happy song. This imagery in this is great, and it tells a lot about God’s personality! I would love to hear the sound of God’s singing! I’ll bet He has the most incredible voice ever! I can picture him exulting – dancing and jumping, like my 2 year old when he gets really excited about something – and grinning and clapping His hands. It’s cute in a little child, but when it’s my Creator who’s excited and happy about me… Wow! That’s gotta be incredible! I also love how His love calms all my fears. Right now, with things kind of crazy like they are there are a lot of fears. But His love is the remedy for all of them, because if He loves me (and He does) then all His plans are good which means I don’t have to be afraid of the plans He has. And nothing happens arbitrarily or by chance (although there are still consequences to my poor choices if I step outside His will). My might Savior! How awesome is He! He rejoices over me! He calms all my fears! He sings a happy song! He exults over me! What a great way to start the morning!