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When life ahead suddenly seems to be a huge question mark, dotted with plenty of unknowns, how comforting is the promise of God, that comes to and I at the beginning of this new month saying, Surely there is a future; and your hope will not be cut off. [Proverbs 23:18] You have a future and a hope! And there will also be an end; a good ending, one that your heart is longing for, an expected end of all that has been holding back your progress in the path of God’s plan for you. For His plans for you are that you may prosper and experience peace. They are certainly not ones of disaster. [Jeremiah 29:11]
May your heart find it’s rest in this word that comes to you from the faithful God who can never lie. His word will not return void without accomplishing the purpose for which it has been sent. The God who has never promised to leave you or forsake you, will never let you down, no matter how things may appear at present in your life; or how bereft and alone you may be feeling due to the unforeseen circumstances all around you, when social distancing seems to be the official prescription for one and all!
You have a God who watches over you, to see you, guide you and provide for you even in the most dry and parched circumstances of your life. It was the experience of Hagar, who twice in her life found herself in the land of the unknown, in uncharted territory, not knowing at all, whether there was going to be a future for her.
HE is the God who sees you:
She stood in the barren desert, by a spring of water, not knowing where to go, whether there was life ahead for her. One can imagine how sorrowful would have been her inner being. But the Angel of the Lord met her, right at the place of her need, her calamity, to counsel her and show her the path that she needed to take, to return and submit to her mistress, uncomfortable as it must have been to her. It was also the promise of a son being born to her, that gave her life and strength to carry on with hope and a future. Beer Lahai Roi, she named the well, in overwhelming gratitude, for she had had a touch from the God who always sees you, no matter how improbable and unlikely it may appear to be in your present difficulties. She had seen the One who sees, heard His word that led her on. [Genesis 16:1-15]
And then again once more, she found herself in the same place, cast away and alone, wandering in the wilderness of Beersheba, this time with an infant son, dying of thirst. How heart wrenching it must have been for the mother. But it was then that the break through came in her life, the blessed revelation of truth. She sat opposite the boy, unable to see her son die, when God heard the cry of the boy. And the Angel of the Lord, spoke the word of promise and comfort to her, and in loving compassion reveal to her the spring of water, that was so close by, to quench her son’s thirst, and above all, give life and hope of a good future. [Genesis 21:8-21] Therefore, no matter how bleak and hopeless, your life may appear to be right now, you have a God who watches over you, and His word will speak to you, through the scriptures, as you focus upon it, to lead you onward, in hope towards a good future.
HE is the God who is with you:
A future uncertain and foreboding, was what loomed ahead of Jacob, the patriarch, as he found himself on the run, fleeing for his life, as a consequence of usurping his brother Esau’s birthright. A fault very much his own, but the merciful God gave him His word, that assured Him of His presence. He never gives up, no matter how far you try to run away from Him, is the truth that Jacob’s experience teaches you. For, as he laid his head on a stone to rest on that troubled night, it was a glorious vision, and the word of God that came to him to say, ‘Behold I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and bring you back to this land; I will not leave you, until I have done what I have spoken to you. [Genesis 28:15]
He awoke then, enriched by the word of God to him, and aware of the presence of God with him. And he called the place ‘Bethel’, to build an altar unto God. It was dark outside, and even in his soul, when he had laid down to rest, but not anymore, as he awoke and left that place, for the light of God’s glorious presence was with him, and His promise and His word sustained him, leading him to a good future.
From discouraged to fiery hearts:
They thought they had no future; for Christ on whom they had pinned their hopes for a political deliverance, had just been crucified. And the two disciples, weary in body and soul, as they walked on the Emmaus road, were joined by the Lord Himself, unrecognized by them for who He was. He opened to them the truth of how it was all so that the scriptures may be fulfilled. It gave them hope, transforming their hearts, from being discouraged and without hope to those that burned like fire, a truth that they acknowledged between themselves, as they later on broke bread with the Lord, and their eyes were opened to see Him as the Risen Lord! [Luke 23:13-32]
From a fearful to a courageous heart:
On the road, the Lord’s presence and His word to them gave the disciples hope for their future; a future that they thought was no longer possible. And in darkness, on the stormy sea, it was the Angel of God’s presence, counseling him not to be afraid, and revealing to him, the life and future that awaited him, that gave Paul the courage to testify to the others in the boat, that their voyage will not end without them reaching the shore safely, unlikely though it seemed to them then. [Acts 27:13-38] There is one factor therefore, that needs to be there, in order that you may have a good hope and a good future even though these may be perilous times, offering no hope to the one who depends on his own strength. It is the assurance of God, in the midst of it all.
Your times are in His hands:
And putting it in the right perspective, God Himself needs to be your hope. You will know and find then that your expectation and hope for a good future will never be cut off. It is pinning your hope upon people, however good they may be, that will invariably let you down. The psalmist puts across the truth powerfully, after experiencing a myriad of disappointments, in the hand of man, saying, And now, O Lord, what do I wait for? My expectation is in you. [Psalm 39:7] He declares his hope for a good future ,But as for me, I trust in You, my Lord, For You are my God. [Psalm 31:14] And he goes on to state the wondrous reason for it to be, because, My times are in Your hands. [Psalm 31:15] It needs to be your foundation too; and you will surely see a good future; and your hope will not be cut off.
SURELY – but how?
It all seems so uncertain and bleak, all over. And how then can you be so sure of a good future, is a very logical question that can arise in you. And it is where in the midst of all the discouraging news that you hear all around, you need to turn to God and His word. For, it is in knowing God more and more that you can be confident and sure, to be filled with a certain hope. You can then have the confidence that is much like Paul’s to be able to say, I know whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him, until that Day. [1 Timothy 1:12]
You can be sure when you know the God who has spoken the promise to you; one that will certainly come to pass, because He is a faithful God. And you know God through His word, through the scriptures. In the process faith begins to develop in you, one that is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen. [Hebrews 11:1] It is the word that can never pass away, that thus forms the basis of your hope and good expectation, your hope of an expected ending coming to pass, to lead you to a place of rest, undisturbed by the worrying state of affairs all around you.
Hope – for HE knows:
‘I know the plans I have for you; plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you a future and a hope’. [Jeremiah 29:11] The Lord’s words through the prophet, cannot be clearer. When your hope is in Him, and He is your hope you cannot be troubled or disturbed about your future. For, He has good plans for you; and He knows what they are. May your heart find rest and comfort in the knowledge of it. You may not know; you may not understand; you may not be able to. But He knows; He understands, and He can! The troubles all around that seem never ending, is not something that He cannot handle or overcome. He will bring a good ending to it all, fulfilling your good expectations.
How He is going to do it, need not disturb you mentally. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, He has known it all, to ordain all the days of your life, and all that you will ever need. He has done it thus far in your life, and therefore you can easily rest assured, and have the good hope that He will do it in the coming days of your life too, to give you a good future. Your expectation therefore can certainly be good. And sufficient is the truth that HE knows, and will also meet your needs, no matter how. This truth , accompanied by knowing the nature of the good God who has good plans for you, needs to be your point of reference, in order to experience peace even in stormy seas. You are great in counsel and mighty in deed…. [Jeremiah 32:19] This also comes from the Lord of Hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance. [Isaiah 28:29]
It is how the wisdom and the greatness of the counsel of God, is established in the scriptures, through the mouth of the prophets. And so it is with His thoughts concerning you, and also His plans, as He Himself has declared ,‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways than your ways, And My thoughts than yours’. [Isaiah 55:9] And the plans that such a great God, makes for you, will definitely be great and awesome. It is why your hope and expectation can be good, and also established beyond any doubt. ‘Surely’ they will come to pass!
The good and unlimited God:
There is also the truth that His plans for you, are from the hand of the God who is good and also has all that is necessary to carry it out in your life. When you as a human being plan something, it would be limited by what is available in your hand in order to do it. But with God, His resources are unlimited. He has it all, and He has the might to do it all, however great His plan is concerning your future. Therefore, with eyes of faith, may you perceive and appropriate the goodness and greatness of His future plans for you; one that in the prevailing circumstances that bode no hope for the future, would never enter your mind, even in your imagination!
What you need also to bear in mind is the truth and knowledge of His love for you. For, when out of His love He makes plans for your future, it will surely and certainly be what is good. And as the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Ephesians, He is the God who is able to do beyond all that you can ask or imagine. [Ephesians 3:20] He is the good God who has nothing that is bad to give you. Surely, you have a good future. Your hope will not be cut off, as the promise of God declares.
It also comes with His procedure; one that you need to follow in order to see it become reality in your life. Moses and the Israelites had the wonderful promise from God of what lay ahead. It was a land flowing with milk and honey. But there were challenges on the way, for which it was the procedure ordained by God that brought a necessary and vital transformation. The waters of Marah, even as Moses tuned to God in prayer, became sweet, for he cast into the waters, the tree that God showed him. [Exodus 15:22-27]
1. Call upon Him in prayer:
Then you will call upon Me, and go and pray to Me and I will listen to you. [Jeremiah 29:12] And you have a prayer answering God. A God whose arm you do not have to twist in order to receive from Him, but a God who loves to give to you, and is waiting for you to call upon Him and seek Him.
2. Seek Him to find Him:
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. [Jeremiah 29:13] God is near; and He is waiting to be found by you. A willing and contrite heart that seeks first His kingdom and His righteousness is all that He asks of you, as you turn to Him in prayer. He knows your need, both big and small; and has already made provision for it. And until it becomes a visible reality, all you need to do is to pray. He is the Lord who is Jehovah Jireh, your provider who has made preparations for a good future, that your cup may run over even in this year, that has become a question mark to so many. But you have hope; for, those who hope in the Lord will never be disappointed, or put to shame.
3. A gathering and restoration:
I will be found by you, says the Lord, and bring you back from your captivity.. I will gather you from all the nations, says the Lord. [Jeremiah 29:14] Business pundits may have written off this year; but because your hope, your trust is in God Almighty, you will have an expected end, to see what you have hoped and prayed for happen, for to Him the unexpected happenings of this year are of no surprise. His good plans for you, remain unaltered. He will bring restoration in your life, from any pain or loss that has taken you captive.
You have good days ahead in your life, for His goodness and mercy will follow you, when the Lord Himself is your hope, and He is your expectation. Surely, you will see a good and desired future, what you have expected to happen in all areas of your life. Your hope will not be cut off; With grateful thanks and adoration, as you lift your heart unto the Lord, may the anointing of the Spirit rest upon you, to see you gather as a family, as children of God, as individuals who are living stones making up the church of God to pray that His good will and glorious purposes for His kingdom, may come to pass, and even in your own life. And may the knowledge and understanding of the truth of knowing that He knows the plans that He has for your life, drive away all anxious thoughts within you to lead you to a place of peace and rest. For, Surely you have a future. And your hope will not be cut off.
In the Name of Christ Jesus Amen.
