Hope

In the English language, “hope” is a fuzzy word. It describes a wish or desire that something will happen or turn out a certain way. We might hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow, but tomorrow brings a downpour. In our language, hope has no guarantees.

The rich young ruler had an urgent question. He asked Jesus how he could somehow grasp eternal life.

One of life’s biggest dangers is the trap of the temporal. One writer notes that our “deepest devotions simply leak out of our bodies by how we spend our time and what makes us smile and what claims our energy.” Most of our time and energy is spent on the things we will retire from and leave behind. When we are caught in the trap of the temporal, we burn out or wash out. But…there is a remedy.

Our passage today declares that the Lord is the everlasting God. Let’s read our passage and focus on what it means when we say that God is everlasting or eternal.

They are called “The Silent Years.” During the four hundred long years between the last book of the Old Testament and the coming of Jesus, there were no prophets, angels delivering messages, or word from God. Then…at just the right time…

Scripture’s call to faith is not an invitation to blind belief. An unsubstantiated belief system is what superstitions are made of. Rather, “faith is established upon coherent and consistent reasoning and upon empirical evidence. Peter writes, ‘For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty’ (2 Peter 1:16).”

People will always let you down. Even those who love you the most. Even those you consider a mentor. Even those who want what’s best for you. It’s in our DNA—we disappoint others. But there is One who never disappoints.

Have you ever felt weak? Inadequate? Not sure you can hold on? That’s how David was feeling when he wrote Psalm 61.

Broken hearts come in many forms. Some are crushed by a sixth-grade break-up; others when a spouse walks out after twenty-five years. Some come from the rejection of a dear friend; others by reckless words that pierce like a sword.