HOPE

I completed this on 11/10/2021 as a devotional for church. I decided to include it here so that blog readers could be encouraged also.

What is Hope? To want something to happen or be true, to have faith, or to anticipate with joy.

Generally, people who have hope are optimistic, cheerful, in good spirits, and are joyous.

People who have lost hope often are despairing, despondent, or feel worthless.

Have you lost hope? Do you feel overwhelmed? You work through a problem, and another one presents itself, and it looks bigger than what you have just been through. Our enemy wants us to despair and believe we will never have victory.

Don’t believe it.

God loves us and has not forsaken us. He protects us and fights our battles for us. I suspect He seldom fights like we would.

Consider the people in the story that Jesus’ grandfather likely told Him many times when he was a child.

The Israelites had been held captive in Egypt for 430 years. I suspect many had given up hope of ever being free. God had different plans. He sent Moses as their deliverer and allowed him to grow up in the presence of the Egyptian pharaoh. When the appointed time came, Moses confronted the pharaoh. When the pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go, God sent plagues to show the Egyptians what He could do. The pharaoh relented and ordered the Israelites to leave. It was not long before pharaoh changed his mind and sent his army to recapture them. It was too late. God had already implemented His plan for their deliverance.

Scripture:

Exodus 14:21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back . . . 22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left. 23 And the Egyptians pursued . . . even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 . . . in the morning watch the LORD looked unto the host of the Egyptians . . . 25 And took off their chariot wheels, that they drave them heavily: so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the LORD fighteth for them against the Egyptians. Exodus 14:21-25 KJV

Some rules I picked up from this story of the deliverance of God’s people which will work for us today are:

1. Don’t go back to where we came from. We may be tempted to stay there.

2. Rest in God while waiting for victory.

3. Don’t let the size and appearance of our enemy or problem discourage us from hope.

4. Don’t forget that we asked God for victory over this problem.

5. We won’t have to fight this battle again, maybe something similar, but not the same.

6. The Lord will fight for us, let us hold our peace.

7. Listen for and follow God’s direction when he gives us an action to take.

8. Step out in faith when we hear from God.

9. Let us sing praises to The Lord.

Two songs I love are, “Victory in Jesus” and the chorus that Moses and Miriam led the people through with singing and dancing as they triumphantly walked away from their Red Sea victory. It goes like this, “I will sing unto the LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” I suspect that Jesus sang the chorus with his granddaddy every time He heard the story.

These songs are hope builders that will encourage us to believe God is always watching over us and that He always will.

I ask You, Father, to give genuine hope to those who read this devotional, in Jesus’ name.

Biography

Who am I? Wayne Brady, an ordinary working man who has lived a lifetime of work and faithfulness to my Lord. I was raised in a loving but unexpressive family. However, I learned the value of people in my life who cared about me. My immediate family did not go to church, and I attended mostly as a guest of someone else. I went enough with my grandmother, cousins, and uncles growing up to understand the value of Christianity. After we married, Carolyn and I attended Circle Baptist Church in Pensacola where I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour in 1968.

Now, I love to write, and I love to share my faith with anyone who will listen or read my words.

by Wayne Brady 04/06/2022