A Future and A Hope
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Psalm 31:23,24
O love the LORD, all you His godly ones! The LORD preserves the faithful And fully recompenses the proud doer. Be strong and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:10-14
10. "For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13. You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart, 14. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.
Matthew 7:7-8
Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For every one who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Wow! What reassurance and comfort these verses offer! I had selected Jeremiah, and when I logged on to my computer, the verses from Psalm 31 and Matthew were included in the subscription service I’ve told you about before! I’ve been through a time of faithful waiting lately – well waiting, anyway! I haven’t felt exiled or alone, just like I “couldn’t win” no matter what I did! Last night, though I received a sign from God that these verses are so true, even for us today.
A series of “god-incidences” unfolded last night, and there is no doubt that the events that took place were anything short of God’s divine intervention – for me and for the friend who was with me – she HAS had very rough time, and needed this reassurance that God is with us far more than I did! And she got not only His reassurance, but His comfort and a reminder of His promises!
Sometimes in the waiting we lose hope. Sometimes in looking ahead, we lose sight of today. Sometimes in the remembering the past, we forget to be thankful and grateful for today. These verses reassure us that God was not only in the past laying the groundwork for today, but that He precedes us into the future to prepare a place for us with Him. I can’t think of a more comforting, hopeful assurance!
God loves us and wants what is best for us. But He is as just as He is kind. Sometimes we must wait – to learn to trust Him, to be chastised for doubting in the past(?), to see for ourselves that we are just dust without His divine presence within us. God is intimately, passionately, lovingly and graciously involved in every breath we breathe, in every step we take, in every instant of our lives.
I hope you have a little bounce in your step today, reassured that God is with you, that He loves you, and has planned a future for you full of hope and rejoicing with Him in heaven.
Mary
