Hope Unswervingly

  Jehoshaphat, King of Judah. That is quite a name. He is one of a long list of kings in the old testament. Unlike some of those kings, he has quite a long list of good accomplishments to his credit. When I am thrown a curve ball in life, the piece of Jehoshaphat’s story in 2 Chronicles 20 is full of things I need to remember. With Jehoshaphat as our teacher, let’s see what we can learn. Read 2 Chronicles 20:1-4 Jehoshaphat was about to be overwhelmed. The armies of three different people groups were gathering to fight against him. It was a vast number of opposing soldiers, and they were already very close when the king learned of it. That is when Jehoshaphat made the first great decision of this crisis: He sought the Lord in his fear. In fact, it says that he RESOLVED to seek the Lord. It seems this wasn’t his automatic response – he was probably shaking in his boots and wanted to panic and run—but with an act of will, he chose to seek God’s perspective on this situation. ...

  Read Jeremiah 17:5-8 and John 10:10 For the last five years, I have skipped the New Year's resolutions. Actually, it has been much longer than that, but it was in the last five years that I have chosen a new approach that has been working for me. Instead of a resolution, I choose a word that will be my focus for the year - something that I can apply to every aspect of my life throughout the year. These words help me grow, discern choices, and give me a mindset to hold onto. Two of my favorite words have been brave and improve . I've been thinking and praying about my word for 2021. I have considered hope , adjust , and stretch . Although these all speak to an aspect of what I need for the coming year, none of these settled on my heart. Then this morning I was thinking about how we have been living during COVID-19. The mindset tends to be "just get through it" or "endure it until it is over." To survive. The Casting Crowns lyrics came into my mind. "...

Daniel 10:15-19 When he was visited by the messenger of the Lord, Daniel was physically and emotionally overwhelmed. He describes himself as speechless, anguished, and powerless. Breathless. Daniel asks this powerful question that continues to echo in my mind. “How can someone like me, your servant, speak with someone like you, my lord?” Indeed, how can someone like me approach Almighty God and speak with Him? To be in His presence would leave me speechless in awe, anguished in my sin, and powerless to do anything for myself. How grateful I am that God does His best work when we are in this state of weakness! When we humble ourselves at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging our sins and weaknesses, that is precisely when Jesus will reach down, take our hand, and respond in the way the messenger did to Daniel. “Don’t be afraid, you who are treasured by God. Peace to you; be very strong.” Fear flees and strength grows. With the burden of our sins removed and the assurance of God’s...

Continuing with Daniel 10, especially verse 12 The messenger from God about being treasured helped Daniel to stand, but he was still trembling. Daniel hears the reassuring words we all need to hear every day, “Don’t be afraid.” Virtually every time an angel comes to speak to someone in the Bible, he begins with “fear not” or “be not afraid.” Seeing a being sent by God is not an ordinary experience and would likely cause a bit of fear, simply due to awe and wonder, if nothing else. But God does not come to us to cause us to fear. He comes to us to express what we need to hear – words of encouragement, direction, correction, comfort. We need to get past the fear to really hear what God wants to say to us. If we are afraid to ask God to speak to us, what’s behind that? Are we afraid of what He might ask us to do? What we might have to give up? What He might show us about our inner hearts? If fear is our reaction, we must go back and reread the section before this and remind ourselv...