Good morning!
The hope that we have in Jesus has been in my thoughts a lot in our current situation and I wanted to share some what I have been thinking about with all of you.
Psalm 43 verse 5 talks of that hope:
Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.
Hope means “to desire something with confident expectation of its fulfilment.” Throughout the Bible, God proves his faithfulness to his people by leading them from all their predicaments and troubles. He will never leave or forsake His people. God wants us to trust Him.
Psalm 147 v11 tells us that he is delighted when we put our trust in Him.
Psalm 46 1 tells us that God is “an ever present help in time of trouble”
Even in the worst of situations, God will come through.
I recently read an article about Victor Frankel who was a prisoner in a concentration camp and lost his father, mother brother and wife in the camps – only he and his sister survived. He lost everything and was suffering from hunger, cold, brutality and awaiting death. How could he find life worth preserving in his situation? In one of his darkest moments, whilst digging in a cold icy trench, he wrote: “In a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it transcend that hopeless meaningless world and from somewhere I heard a victorious ‘Yes’ in answer to my question of the existence of an ultimate purpose”
At that moment, a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable grey of a dawning morning in Bavaria. “Et lux in tenebris lucent” – and the light shineth in the darkness”
Jesus is our hope, our light in this world and we can have His peace, joy and a hope that passes all understanding.
HOPE
Hold
On
Peace
Exists
HOPE
Hold
On
Pain
Ends
Here are some songs that I pray will uplift you as we worship God together:
Kim
Last week we listened to Andy Stanley preaching the first message in the series called “He’s Still* Got the Whole World in His Hands.” We heard about how uncertainty is nothing new and that the uncertainty we face today is no different from the uncertainty faced by the men and women of the Bible. Like them, we sometimes question God’s faithfulness, his presence and his concern. In the second part of the series today, Andy talks about the need to “Pray Until The Peace Comes” as we discover that He’s Still* Got the Whole World in His Hands.
If you’ve got children then don’t forget to take a look at our Doing Church Differently… for Kids!