Where Is Your Hope? What Is Your Anchor?

"We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure." Hebrews 6:19a

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful." Hebrews 10:23

One week I was watching a boy at physical therapy as he sat on a rolling stool and pushed himself across the floor with his injured leg.  His progress was slow and laborious because a huge metal weight was attached to the back of the stool by a wide canvas belt.  As the young fellow struggled to drag that weight along, my inclination was to take scissors and cut the weight loose from the stool so he could move unhindered.  Then I thought of all the weights we drag around that hinder our progress, weights caused by problems and circumstances.  The therapists had a broad view, the big picture, of the boy's improvement in mind when they attached the weight to the stool, and God has our improvement in mind when He allows us to struggle with problems and circumstances.  The boy's leg needed to be strengthened, and our faith needs to grow stronger and deeper.  God's promise in Romans 8:28, that all things will work for our good if we belong to Him, gives us hope as we keep struggling against the weights in our lives.

Christians have an even broader view, a bigger picture, than the therapists, because we have an eternal perspective.  Abraham as he rode swaying camels across dry, dusty lands and lived in hot, stuffy tents, had an eternal perspective.  Hebrews 11:10 says of him,  "For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

This life is not all there is.  Ahead of each Christian is a heavenly home where we shall see our Father face to face, be able to bow before the Lord Jesus in grateful adoration, and bask in the presence of the blessed Holy Spirit.  Heaven is a magnificent place, specially prepared with love by God for His children.  It is a place of no more sickness nor sin nor sadness nor sorrow, no more guilt or regrets, a place of eternal joy.  Because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, there is help for the helpless and hope for the hopeless.  A glorious future is in store for us.  Let us place our hope in God, as Abraham did.

Father, thank You for all that You have lovingly prepared for those who belong to You.  May we always find hope in You and in our future.  Amen.

Heaven

“Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (KJV)

I am at the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama. The sky is that amazing blue with wisps of white clouds. The waves of the ocean are lazily undulating toward the shore against an expanse of crystal white sand. The sun is beaming benevolently on the entire scene, glinting off the water and causing myriads of sparkles. The ocean and the sky meet at the horizon miles and miles away. It is an awesome sight.

One year my daughter Weety took her children to the beach and also took a babysitter who had never been to the beach before. She said the babysitter was so overwhelmed by the immensity and the beauty of the ocean that she pulled up a chair on the beach and sat there for the longest time staring at the sight before her. Then she called her husband and said, “You are never going to believe this!” Hearing about the beach and the ocean and seeing them are two entirely different things.

I think there must be a corollary with heaven. We have some amazing descriptions of it in the book of Revelation. But I’m sure reading about it and seeing it first hand will be two entirely different things. No doubt it will be so incredible we will wish we could phone our loved ones on earth and say, “You are never going to believe this!”

Father, thank You for the eternal place You have prepared for those who love You and all the pleasures You have provided there for us. The greatest joy will be that You are there with us! Amen.

Nothing Is Too Hard for God

“‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’”  Luke 1:38a

Sometimes the problems that surround God’s call on our lives seem insurmountable, and for us they are. But nothing is too hard for God, and whenever He requires us to do something, He will provide the necessary resources. Even when we don’t fully understand God’s plan, and even though His plan may include hardship and suffering, our part is to say yes to Him and trust Him for the outcome, as Mary did.

A crucial detail concerning Jesus’ birth was the fact that His mother was a virgin. When the angel Gabriel came to Mary, a young girl who was espoused to a man named Joseph, the angel came before the expected marriage had taken place. When Gabriel told Mary she would have a son, she responded, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34) Mary wasn’t objecting to God’s plan. She was simply asking how this could happen. The angel gave her this explanation: “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)

When Joseph, Mary’s intended husband, heard that she was expecting a child, he could have had her stoned since she appeared to be an adulterous woman. But Joseph was a man of mercy. Matthew 1:19, “Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.”

Mary had responded to Gabriel’s announcement with submission to God’s will no matter what it would cost her. No doubt she dreaded Joseph’s reaction when he would hear the news. But God took care of that. God sent an angel who told Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary home as his wife, because that which was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit. Joseph did as the angel had instructed, taking Mary as his wife.

Jesus came into the world with Mary as His mother, but the Holy Spirit was His birth father. He was born of the seed of Mary but not of the seed of Joseph. When a baby is born of the seed of man, he inherits man’s characteristics--two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms, two legs, etc., and a sin nature. But, since Jesus was born of God rather than man, He was born without a sin nature--the sinless Son of God. Therefore, He could die for the sins of others. He had no sins of His own that required atonement; He could pay the penalty for your sins and my sins, and He did. That’s why he came.
Lord Jesus, thank You for donning the garment of humanity and for dying for my sins. Amen.

The Secret of Integrity

Daniel 6

"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them."  Psalm 34:7

God had allowed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be tested. They were faithful to worship only God, and God rescued them from the fiery furnace.

Now it was Daniel's turn to be tested. Darius the king appointed one hundred twenty men called satraps who ruled over different areas of the kingdom. There were three administrators over the satraps, and Daniel was one of these. Daniel had so distinguished himself by his exceptional qualities that the king was planning to set him over the whole kingdom. The other administrators and the satraps got wind of Darius' plan. These men were jealous and angry that a Jew, an exile, was about to be promoted to such a high position. They tried to find some grounds for charges against Daniel in the way he fulfilled his position, but they could find nothing wrong. Daniel 6:4 says, "They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent." Daniel's sterling character is a challenge to us. The secret of Daniel's integrity was the regularity of his prayer life. When Daniel got on his knees and said, "God, it's Daniel," God didn't ask, "Daniel who?" Have you made spending time with God everyday your top priority? Can you improve in this area of your Christian walk?

The officials knew that Daniel regularly worshiped his God, and this was the only thing they could find to use against him. The group went to King Darius and persuaded him to issue an edict that anyone who prayed to any god or human other than the king for thirty days would be thrown into a den of lions. Once Darius put this decree in writing, it could not be repealed. Apparently Darius' pride in the fact that he would be the only one in the kingdom to be worshiped for thirty days blinded him to the consequences of his decision.

It was Daniel's custom to pray three times a day. After the edict went into effect, Daniel got down on his knees in front of his windows, which were opened toward Jerusalem, and prayed as always. Daniel's enemies went to King Darius, told him Daniel was still praying to his God, and insisted he be thrown to the lions according to the king's edict. Darius was sick at heart over the turn of events and made every effort that day to save Daniel, but he was caught in a trap of his own making. So the king gave the order, and Daniel was cast into the pit with the lions. The king's parting words to Daniel were, "May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you."

King Darius spent a sleepless night, and he hurried to the lions' den at the first light of dawn. He called to Daniel, and Daniel told him that God had sent an angel to shut the mouths of the lions.

Had Daniel failed to pray as was his custom, he would have betrayed God and lost the opportunity to showcase God's power. God never deserts those who belong to Him.. There was a fourth man with the three men in the fiery furnace and an angel in the lions' den with Daniel. God may not always save His children like He saved Daniel and his three friends. Sometimes He chooses to take us to heaven where we will be safe forever. But, either way, He rescues those who are faithful to Him. May we be as faithful to Him as He is to us.

Father, thank You that You are always with us.  Thank You that You rescue us from our circumstances one way or the other.  Help us to be faithful to You. Amen.

The Handwriting on the Wall

Daniel 5

"Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall."  Proverbs 16:18

King Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar. One night the king gave a great banquet for a thousand of his nobles. They were drinking wine, and Belshazzar gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets his father had taken from the temple in Jerusalem so he and his guests could drink out of them. As they drank, they praised their gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.

Suddenly a hand began to write on the wall. The king was so frightened that he turned pale, his legs became weak, and his knees began to knock. He summoned his wise men to tell him what the writing said, but they couldn't understand it. Then the queen told the king about Daniel and his wisdom and ability to interpret dreams and solve difficult problems.

The king sent for Daniel. When Daniel appeared before the king, he reminded Belshazzar of the greatness and power of his father, Nebuchadnezzar. Then he reminded Belshazzar that his father's heart had become arrogant and hardened with pride. God caused Nebuchadnezzar to be removed from his throne and stripped of his glory. He became like an animal, living outdoors and eating grass. When he humbled himself and acknowledged God, God placed him back on the throne and allowed him to rule his kingdom again.

Belshazzar was also filled with pride. He had not humbled himself at all. He worshiped idols rather than God. So God sent the king this message by the hand writing on the wall: Mene--God has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end. Tekel--You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting. Peres--Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. Daniel 5:26b-28. That very night Belshazzar was killed, and Darius the Mede took over his kingdom.

One of the qualities God hates most in a person is pride, haughtiness, self-sufficiency. He said in Proverbs 8:13b, "I hate pride and arrogance..." He warned in Proverbs 11:2, "When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom." Proverbs 29:23 tells us, "Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor." Proverbs 6:16 lists seven things that the Lord hates, and at the top of the list is haughty eyes. Paul tells us in Romans 12:3a, "For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought." And Nebuchadnezzar, from his experience, assures us that God is able to humble those who walk in pride. We often say a person has gotten too big for his britches. We need to remember who we are and who God is and not confuse the two.

Father, may we always remember that You are the One with power and wisdom.  We are simply Your creatures, totally dependent on You.  May we worship and praise You with gratitude in our hearts for all that You have given us and done for us.  Amen.