22nd. August. 2020 Daily Devotion.

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. ~Psalm 42:5

Keep A Firm Grip on Hope

Hope is a precious word! One dictionary defines hope as: “the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best; to believe or trust.”

An apostle of faith George Mueller, the founder of the Bristol Orphanage in England, stated: “There is never a time when we may not hope in God! Whatever the necessities, however great our difficulties, and though to all appearances help is impossible, yet our business is to hope in God, and it will be found that it is not in vain.”

In the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah was grieving because Babylon had destroyed Jerusalem. His grief ran very deeply, and he became remembered as the “weeping prophet”. He cried until his tears no longer came. His heart was broken because the people had rejected God who loved them.

However, in the midst of all the tragedy, Jeremiah expressed faith and hope in God. He stated: “There’s one other thing I remember…I keep a grip on hope: God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out; His merciful love couldn’t have dried up…how great Your faithfulness! I’m sticking with God.”

Have you lost all hope? Are you facing an overwhelming problem? Are you believing that the solution will not turn out for the best? Stop, and take time to roll this problem over to God. It is then that He is able to bring hope into your life.

A. W. Tozer stated: “Faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.” Learn to depend on God’s faithfulness. Because God is, you have hope. Remain confident that He is your light, even in the darkest of days. He has an endless supply of compassion and loyal love, and His everlasting arms are sustaining you. Because He is enthroned in heaven, you can count on Him listening to you. Because He is, you can be certain that He is watching over you as you come and go.

Robert Hugh Morris an American statesman (1734-1806), stated: “God brings no man into the conflicts of life to desert him. Every man has a friend in heaven whose resources are unlimited; and on Him he may call at any hour and find sympathy and assistance.”

Like Jeremiah, keep a firm grip on hope, and place your faith and trust in Him.

Lord, thank You that Your compassions fail not. Thank You for being our friend in heaven. Amen. ~Ann Brock

Prayers

Lord, I ask you to inspire me to encourage others by what I say and do today. God and Father of all people never let me look down on others or make anyone feel inferior.

Lord, show me how to live today with genuine concern for others. In expressing my care, may I show people that they are valued, loved and appreciated for who they are.

Heavenly Father let me do my work this day; and if the darkened hours of despair overcome me, may I not forget the strength that comforted me in other hard times. May I still remember the bright hours that found me walking over the silent hills of my childhood, or dreaming on the margin of a quiet river, when a light glowed within me, and I promised my early God to have courage amid the tempests of the changing years.

Spare me from bitterness and from the sharp passions of unguarded moments. May I not forget that poverty and riches are of the spirit. Though the world knows me not, may my thoughts and actions be such as shall keep me friendly with myself.

Lift up my eyes from the earth and let me not forget the uses of the stars. Forbid that I should judge others lest I condemn myself. Let me not follow the clamour of the world but walk calmly in my path.

Give me a few friends who will love me for what I am; and keep ever burning before my vagrant steps the kindly light of hope.

And though age and infirmity overtake me, and I come not within sight of the castle of my dreams, teach me still to be thankful for life, and for time’s olden memories that are good and sweet; and may the evening’s twilight find me gentle still. Amen. ~ Max Ehrmann

Do not look forward to what may happen
tomorrow; the same everlasting Father who cares
for you today will take care of you tomorrow and
every day. Either He will shield you from suffering,
or He will give you unfailing strength to bear it.

Be at peace, then. Put aside all anxious thoughts and
imaginations and say continually: “The Lord is my
strength and my shield. My heart has trusted in Him
and I am helped. He is not only with me but in me,
and I in Him. Amen.