Hope in Him all Day Long
I cannot seem to get past the message of Hope lately. The Lord keeps reminding me not to lose hope, and I keep feeling the need to share this message with you, which to me means that there are those of you who need to hear this, too…that there are circumstances or mindsets that keep bringing us to the precipice of losing hope. I don’t necessarily mean in some extreme sense per se but that our trust in the Lord may be waning in certain areas of our lives…not our faith in the Lord but our trust that things will turn out for the good in certain situations.
One morning this week during my time with the Lord, He took me on a detour—to a different book of the Bible than where I had been reading, and I ended up in Psalm 25. I’m familiar with Psalm 25 and have probably written about it here before, but it was significant for different reasons this time. I won’t burden you with its applications to my personal situations, but I will tell you that there it was again…that message—Don’t lose Hope:
“In you, Lord my God, I put my trust. I trust in you; do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me. No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame…” (vs 1-3) and, “Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” (vs 4,5)
That last part really got me, “…my hope is in you all day long.” ALL day long—not just for a moment, not just for an hour but ALL day long. Wow…that shook me a little. In order to have hope in the Lord ALL day long, I would actually have to turn to Him, talk to Him, think about Him, give my burdens to Him, praise Him, sing to Him, meditate on His Word, ask Him for wisdom and guidance…again and again and again—from the time I woke up in the morning until I lay my head on my pillow at night. But how?
I think the answer may be found in the following verses: “Guard my life and rescue me; do not let me be put to shame, for I take refuge in you. May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, Lord, is in you.” (vs 20, 21) In verse 20, David says, “…I take refuge in you.” Refuge is a place of protection, sure, but it also becomes a dwelling place, at least for a period of time but if God is our constant refuge, then that means we are to dwell in Him—in His Presence, in His Word.
In order to hope in Him all day long, we must LIVE in Him all day long, abide with Him, dwell with Him, find our living space and habitation in Him. And in each of the verses above, David says that His hope is in the Lord. His hope as He lives and dwells in the Lord is not in his own abilities, analytical skills, reasoning, interventions, and so on, but His Hope in the Lord…the one with whom He abides in ALL day long.
Today, let’s find our rest in Jesus; let’s dwell in Him today. Let’s put our Hope in Him again and again and again ALL day long. Let’s not rely on ourselves or the things or people around us to give us Hope but in the Father, His Son, and in His promised Holy Spirit.
Katie Botello
FBC Aztec Member