What are you clinging to?
Holding tightly to the edge of the cliff, clinging to a dangling rope or grasping the window’s ledge are all frequent scenes in movies. The rock, window ledge or the rope the character clings to are all that exists between them and a terrible fall. Whether we realize it or not all of us are clinging to something to give us the hope we need to stay in the game of life. What do we cling to on the hard days? What do we hold tightly to on the days we’ve had enough? What keeps us hanging on when it seems there’s just been one trial after another at our doorstep? “Let us hold tightly without waving to the Hope we profess for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” (Heb 10:23)
“Hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.” (Hebrews 6:19) Strong’s Bible Dictionary says “our soul is the seat of our emotions, passions, and desires, that it is the center of mental activity, that it is personality, that it is self. “ Most of the time the activity of the soul is what decides whether I have joy or peace or feel discontent & dissatisfied. The enemy likes us to think that both our emotions and mental activity are crazy and uncontrollable. Like a ship lost in the storm blown by the winds that our souls are unstable and lost to the whims of our emotions. If we aren’t anchored we tend to do just that be blown and tossed on the sea of our circumstances letting the storms of life decide the state of our souls, our emotions and thoughts. God has given us an anchor. Something to keep us near His heart through the storms of life and that is Hope. Hope is an action that indicates a confident expectation for the future with a sense of anticipation and certainty while waiting for an outcome, to place trust in or rely on something.
“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God!” (Ps 42:5 & 11) David models for us that we can speak to our souls, we can direct them, guide them, and call them into line. David repeats this twice in the midst of confessing how discouraged he is by his present circumstance and how much he desires to be near God. Our souls can be stubborn, we may have to speak the truth to ourselves over and over to steer our ship in the direction we truly want to head.
“We can rejoice when we run into problems & trials for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope, and this HOPE will not lead to disappointment.” (Rom 15:3-5) Have you ever hoped or rather wished for something & gotten it but then been disappointed and not quite satisfied when your hope was gratified?
We can hope in things that are like sand, not stable or secure, easily blown & tossed not things that are sure footed for anchoring in. Jesus said those that build on sand (or anchor in sand) that when the winds come the house collapses. I think we can probe at our hearts a bit by asking ourselves some questions: I’ll be happy when? I’ll have peace when? Fill in the blank. Maybe your hope is in a perfectly fit and healthy body, “when I feel better and am more energetic and everything in my body works well then I will be satisfied.” Or “When I am financially stable and don’t have to worry about money anymore” or “when I am able to get a newer house or car then I will be will be happy.” “When my marriage is good, when my husband is more thoughtful, when my kids start making better choices and respecting me, when my parents stop putting me down and encourage me, when I get married, when I have kids, when there isn’t as much stress. When I have a group of good friends.” These are the things that we can hope in and when we get them we still don’t feel satisfied. They are like anchoring in sand they have no ability to keep us stable, secure, and strong. Jesus says the man who builds on (or anchors in) rock is stable and he is able to stand when rain, and winds and floodwaters come they don’t collapse because they are on bedrock. Jesus compares the bedrock to those who listen to his word and put it into practice. The Bible says to hope in 2 things, God himself and God’s word.
“And so Lord, Where do I put my hope? (where do I anchor) My only Hope is in you.” Ps 39:7
“ I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my Hope in his word.” (Ps 130:5)
2016/04/29 at 4:46 pm