Hope Through Biblical Promisess

Devotion 7 - Hope Through Biblical Promises

Num.23:19 - “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

 Ps.89:33-34 – “Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, nor allow My faithfulness to fail.  My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.”

 Biblical hope is certain because it is based on the promises of God who cannot lie. And God is unchanging and eternal, so all His promises and covenants are sure. He isn’t weak but is able to fulfill what He promises; nobody can manipulate Him or control Him. His word is effective and certain and never fails to produce what He intends.

Isa.55:11 – “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

God’s promises are irrevocable, and He does not lie nor change His mind like man sometimes does; thus, God’s truthfulness and changeableness guarantee the blessings of His people. When trials and problems arise, His grace is always sufficient for us.

Hope Anchored

Heb.6:13-19 – “For when God made a promise to Abraham, because He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply you.” And so, after He had patiently endured, He obtained the promise. For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…”

 From this passage, we can see that God has gone the extra mile in seeing to it that we have strong encouragement to hold fast to our hope in him. He wants us to have the assurance that all His promises will come true for us and that our future is firmly in His hand. Hence, He not only makes promises but also takes an oath. So, there are two things, not just one — a promise and an oath — that secure our hope. These two immutable things are meant to give us the deep confidence that we will inherit all that God promises us in Jesus.

Abraham believes what God has promised & was strengthened in Faith.

Rom.4:19-22 – “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” 

Abraham had before him - his body as dead, and the deadness of Sarah's womb. On the other hand, he also had before him the promise of God that he would "become a father of many nations". From a human perspective, there were no grounds for hope. However, he did not allow doubt to cloud and undermine his belief. Against all hope, he did not waver at the promises of God but instead chose to believe – even though the circumstances said no, he held to the fact that God had promised. He was convinced and fully persuaded that God would do what He promised because he believed that God cannot lie.

Likewise, we need to learn from Abraham to hold on to our faith and believe that He who promised is faithful, He will keep hold of us and keep His promises to us. He is the ultimate dependable One! Christianity is all about a faithful God!

Heb.10:23 - “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

The temptation is always for us to be driven by the instant. “Urgent”, “Immediately”, “Hurry-up” etc, etc and often we allow these synonyms to dominate our mindset and we want everything quick and fast.  Sadly, many apply this same mindset in the kingdom of God and the result is often disastrous. We get discouraged easily. We need to intentionally and constantly deal with the tranny of the urgent, believe in the faithfulness of God and learn to strengthen ourselves through His promises in patience and hope.

Two kinds of darkness - Situational darkness & Emotional darkness

Isa.60:2-3 – “For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.”

There are two kinds of darkness in this passage. The "darkness shall cover the earth" refers to the misery, despair, grief and sorrow because of what has happened to our lives or the circumstances around us. The "deep darkness (over) the people" is the reaction of our emotions to the first darkness. It refers to the gloom and hopelessness that result from the lack of positive perspective or enlightenment in a darkened circumstance. Once struck by this deep darkness, our soul becomes miserable and discouraged. We feel weak as strength slowly slips away from us and we begin to succumb to hopelessness and fear.

Do we see gloom and doom alone, or do we look out for God amid the doom and gloom? If we see only darkness and hopelessness, our entire being will be lost in the pitch darkness– there is no help. However, if we look to God and ask the Spirit to open our eyes to see the light, love and power of God in every situation, our entire being will be filled with light, full of hope and overflowing with strength to take on the challenges to come.

The fact is seldom a reflection of the truth. The truth is that no matter what happens, the world exists under the sovereignty of God and He is in supreme control of every situation. Whatever happens, the truth remains that situations will never get out of hand with God, and they will not fall out of His control!

Never allow the ‘reality’ of darkness to quench our spirit but instead, let us be continuously filled by His Spirit and empowered by His light of Hope! We need to be possessed with the promises of God and live by His heartbeat, so that no matter what happens, the hope will be our light.