I woke early this morning. When I do, GOD calls me out of bed and into HIS throne room of grace. For some reason it is never hard to wake up when GOD calls me……..HE says: “sit with ME awhile.”
As I rest in my favorite spot, I watch the dawn approach and I wonder as I read this…….
Deuteronomy 8: 16 “He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”
Did you see the words of hope? “So in the end it might go well with you.” How can you not see the love and grace of a GOD who tells you that! When we trust in the wilderness, HIS hope is always before us. Isn’t this GOD’S way of saying there is always hope no matter what? When CHRIST died, the story wasn’t over yet, because in the end HE rose from the dead…….it is HIS hope for us, handed down for us to grasp onto with all our might.
When I was a little girl I used to come home in the afternoon from school and my Mom and I would sit on the couch and just chat away. I loved those chats with her. I do remember that I was always sad if something was changing or coming to an end. In my mind at the time, I didn’t understand the big picture and how sometimes doors do close so new ones of hope can be opened. I learned from my Mom that there was always a hope in tomorrow. But I didn’t fully understand this concept until I had lived several decades.
In a lifetime, you say many goodbyes to situations and people, places and things. Just because something ends it doesn’t have to be bad……..it can be a really good thing, because of the hope that is around the corner.
God’s design for us, is to do well for us. It is HIS master plan and because HE is a GOD of goodness, we should never doubt that HE doesn’t have our future in mind.
ROMANS 8:28 “AND WE KNOW THAT FOR THOSE WHO LOVE GOD ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR THE GOOD, FOR THOSE WHO ARE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE.”
Yes, HE humbles, tests and refines us along the way. But in the end, it will go well for us because of where we are going and because all things work together for the good of those who love GOD. Being with JESUS is our true hope and the only vision we should carry with us. We should always be looking forward to where we are going…….in the end of this life. That alone gives us the great hope GOD wants us to have…….hope in HIM alone and not hope in the things of this world. Hope in the world always disappoints, hope in CHRIST is eternal and secure!
Are you willing to be humbled and tested so that it may go well with you? I do, since in the end, it will be a new beginning to be in heaven with JESUS! We have to be willing to submit all we are and all we have in order to have this great hope.
Because we are sinners without any way to redeem ourselves, CHRIST died so we would have a hope for our future and this hope does not bring us shame…….
ROMANS 5:5 “…….HOPE DOES NOT PUT US TO SHAME, BECAUSE GOD’S LOVE HAS BEEN POURED INTO OUR HEARTS THROUGH THE HOLY SPIRIT WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN TO US.”
GOD has planted in our hearts the security in CHRIST that we belong to HIM and will be with HIM at the end of our lives when we have breathed our last breath. That is a great hope and inheritance, that is our heart, that is our goal: to run the race before us with perseverance, because in the glorious end……all will go well with us!
EPHESIANS 1: 18-19 “……..HAVING THE EYES OF YOUR HEARTS ENLIGHTENED, THAT YOU MAY KNOW WHAT IS THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED YOU, WHAT ARE THE RICHES OF HIS GLORIOUS INHERITANCE IN THE SAINTS.”
HEAVENSREEF 