Do You Have a False Hope or One that is Confident in God’s Promises?
Good Morning Friends,
A terrible hurricane came this last week to the islands of the Caribbean. The death toll in Haiti keeps climbing and now as I write this Hurricane Matthew is pounding the east coast of Florida. Thousands of flights have been canceled and hundreds of thousands of people are without electricity. Officials sent out an emergency warning to prepare for the worst but hope for the best. They ordered those in harm’s way to evacuate immediately. More than a million have. Disney World closed its doors. Here on the west coast our hotels and motels and restaurants are filled. And it all prompts me to wonder about the story of the faithful but foolish Christian man who heard the warning and decided to stay anyway, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.” You probably have heard the story. Time and time again God sent neighbors and volunteers and police to rescue him but he still refused saying, “No thank you! God will save me!” Then his house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned. When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?” And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a neighbor. I sent you a volunteer. I sent you a police officer. What more were you looking for?” Friends, the storm is real. The danger is real. Perhaps we are writing part of the outcomes through our own actions. Do You Have a False Hope or One that is Confident in God’s Promises?
Scripture: Paul wrote, “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”
Philippians 1:6 (NRSV)
Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Hebrews 10:23-25 (NRSV)
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.
Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)
Message: If we are to have an unshakable and confident trust and hope in Jesus we need to become masters rather than the victims of our difficulties in seeing how God works in and through us. The Bible is filled with thousands of promises and they are one way to see. But none is great or more miraculous than love itself manifested in the actions of relationship. We are to be active with God and with each other. We are to grow in love. So believe friends that God will finish the work He started in each of us… believe that God can be trusted to honor the promises made. But let’s not burden God with unreasonable expectations. We therefor are to have a joyful attitude and live expecting the promises to be fulfilled but we are to act in support of others in ways to glorify God in the process. So count the blessings even in the storm. But know the truth. Hope knowing that the Christian’s life is not wishful thinking or foolhardy bravado. It is a confident expectation that the storm will not last forever but that God’s love will. The Christian knows that the Lord of the universe is sovereign not only over all creation but also over every circumstance we experience. We can live with confidence because our hope is in One who is faithful in small acts of big love. God will stand by His word. Trust God. Be confident that God will do everything that He has promised. But let that confidence be in our actions. Do not defer hope. Embrace it each and every day. Embrace the gifts, forgiveness, peace, purpose, knowledge, presence and joy that comes when we have a hope that is confident and made real through acts of wisdom. Friends, God rescues us all the time but we are not always looking for God in the right way. Maybe if the flood victim in the story had been more focused on helping and working with others the outcome would have been different. Maybe the outcomes for the victims of the very real hurricane of our lives will be different if we choose to help others.
Pray we are confident in God’s care but wise as well. Pray we stop looking for the big miracle when our salvation is to be found in small acts of love.
Pray the more desperate our circumstances the more confident our hope will be in not just another’s act of kindness and love but our own. Pray that we enjoy the comforting provision of grace and its confident promise but also our own acts of grace extended to others. Pray we are confident in who we are and in the work of God in us. Pray we never stop believing because new mercies and miracles occur with every new day. Pray we learn to hope in spite of our situations. Pray we understand the vitality of hope when it is in God. Pray we not sell out to our fears and settle for second best. Pray we are all in for God. Pray we learn God’s dream for our lives. Pray we live for His purpose. Pray we discover our spiritual gifts. Pray we discover our true heart’s desire. Pray we know that God’s promises are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Pray we believe in love that spills over into the lives of others.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 