Yet, Now There is Hope!

Today’s Verse:

…Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. ~Ezra 10:2b

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“Hope!” This one word is the thread by which people hang from day to day. It is the anticipation that there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is the assurance that the sun will come up in the morning. It is the belief that a loved one will be seen again. As one person has said, “Hope springs eternal.” The people of Judah had grievously sinned against God and were weeping and confessing their sins. Shechaniah came to Ezra and said, “Yet now there is hope.”

There is the hope in every believer.

“To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,” (Colossians 1:27). When a person takes Jesus Christ as personal Savior by faith, hope is present and future. It is present because Christ is their possession. It is future because He is the hope of glory. Glory speaks of eternity and Heaven. Jesus living in us gives us assurance of the mansion He has gone to prepare for us, that where He is, there we may be also. Christ in us is a steadfast hope, Hebrews 6:19. Christ in us is a living hope, 1 Peter 1:3. Christ in us is a purifying hope, 1 John 3:3. Christ in us is our saving hope, 1 Thessalonians 5:8.

There is hope for every burden.

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance,” (Psalm 42:5). David was burdened down and broken in spirit. The weight of rejection, fear, and death were more than he could handle. David spent endless days crying. Then, the day came when he wrote Psalm 42. This psalm takes us into David’s soul and we see how through prayer, trust, and patience, he learned that God was sustaining him. Hope sprung up in his soul as he considered how God made His face to shine upon David. Give every burden to the Lord! He can only sustain us after our burdens are cast upon Him. Certainly God gives us hope through the help of His countenance.

There is hope when we are barren.

“Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord,” (Isaiah 54:1). Barrenness is when there is no fruit being produced in our lives. It is when the fruit of the Spirit is absent and the fruit of souls being saved is missing. Rachel told Jacob, “Give me children, or else I die.” Hannah prayed for a son. Break the curse of barrenness and break forth into singing. Break your barrenness through an extended season of prayer, the exercise of incredible faith, and absolute obedience to the Lord’s commands.

There is hope that is blessed.

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ,” (Titus 2:13). The hope that is blessed is that Jesus is coming soon! Knowing Jesus is coming soon changes our outlook. It changes our in-look. Instead of being burdened down with the negative and necessary, we keep the right perspective. This perspective is that sin has no power over Jesus. It knows that as things worsen in our world, God is still all-powerful and in control. It is the joyful anticipation our Lord is coming to take us home to be forever with Him in Heaven.

Yet, now there is hope! Don’t let the devil steal your hope! Keep your hope disciplined through a steadfast faith in our Lord and His word.

Have a hope-filled God Morning!

Bible Reading Schedule: Philippians 1-4

#Ezra #Hope