SCRIPTURE: Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water. Jeremiah 17:13 NIV
THOUGHT: Jeremiah acknowledges what each of us must come to at the end of all our human strategies and effort: it is God who is the hope of Israel, God who is the hope of Amy Clemens, and God who is the hope of you. When we give that truth up and begin to put our final, firmest hope in something else – our strength, our finances, our go bag, our education, our job, another human, and the list goes on – we give up on the one Scripture says holds it all together (Col. 1:17).
There are payoffs for keeping our hope in God and his plans alive. I really liked that verse I wrote about last week: “I have not spoken in secret, In a corner of a land of darkness; I did not say … ‘Seek Me in vain [with no benefit for yourselves] (Is. 45:19).’” There are benefits!
We will not be put to shame by trusting in him; our names won’t need to be written in the dust because they are written in the Book of Life. We have a spring of living water to go to for renewal day after day and eternity to both fill our long-term vision and fuel our imagination.
So as we watch this war on the apple of God’s eye, and we wonder what is coming next, let’s keep hope in God at the center of our imaginations, our thoughts, our prayers, our words, and our actions.
PRAYER: Oh God, hope of Israel – and our hope too – come and do what only you can do.
Dear Reader,
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ABOUT ME:
Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
Check out Walking When You’d Rather Fly, and learn more about the book and Amy’s other ministries. You will also find her devotional work at Words of Hope.
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