Hope Rises...

We have come to the part in our bible reading that I have been longing for. The part that many of us are a little more familiar with...

The New Testament. 

As I read the words of Jesus today in the book of Matthew, I felt like I was breathing in oxygen. Much needed air for my lungs. 

The Old Testament ended with the book of Malachi. It would be 400 years until another word would be heard by the Lord. 

400 years. 

Can you fathom?

As you know, I have been in a weird season. A season of change. Big change. 

I have sought the Voice of the Lord over and over in my sadness over this change. 

I have cried out to Him, wondering if He heard me or if He even cared. 

Honest and heart wrenching words have fallen from my lips to Him. Words have spilled from my heart onto my prayer journal. Many hard to read because they were written with such haste. 

I have asked Him to feel me with Faith. With HOPE. With Belief. 

I have begged Him to open my eyes to see the GOOD. 

God's people must have felt this way for those 400 years. They must have felt the hopelessness. They must have wondered, "WHERE ARE YOU GOD?"

With tears pouring down my cheeks, I have asked Him the same question. 

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

I have clung to this verse. I have said it over and over and over again. 

It is certainly no accident that I am currently in a bible study with dear and precious friends studying the life of King David. 

He had every reason to be hopeless. 

Every reason to feel alone and abandoned in those early days of being chased by a madman by the name of Saul. 

His emotions and his heart is written all over the book of Psalms. 

His faith. His doubt. His concerns. His fears. His hope. His belief. His questioning. 

All of it intertwined into words for His Father in Heaven. 

Oh, can't you relate to him?

So, when Jesus comes on the scene in the book of Matthew, I exhale a sigh of relief. 

All the waiting....all the wondering...

Is the Messiah ever coming?

King David did not live to see this day....

He lived on the pre-side of Jesus. 

We have this opportunity...for such a time as this...

To live on the post-side of Jesus. 

Yes, He was there all along. 

But, the final coming of Jesus, in human form...

This is what the our ancestors from the Old Testament were waiting for. Hoping for. Desperate for. 

We have this great honor of God's Spirit dwelling in us. His Holy Spirit living and breathing inside of His believing children. 

There is NO more darkness. 

There is NO more hopelessness. 

HOPE lives inside of us. 

HOPE dwells among us. 

Our feelings will lead us astray. 

Our emotions will tell us lies. 

TRUTH defeats those feelings and lies of abandonment. 

Do you see?

We lack faith...we lack hope....

Because we are not seeing what our eyes need to see. 

We are not hearing what our ears need to hear. 

Yet, He speaks. 

Softly. In a whisper. 

Beckons us to hear Him, and to see Him. 

Hope begins with a step.

A step of faith. 

Opening our bibles. 

Even in our doubts.

Reading the words of Jesus. Over and over again. 

Until the Hope rises up. 

Filling us so full of faith and hope that we just look plain silly to those around us. 

Just like David did...as he danced in the streets almost naked worshiping the Lord. 

I dare you to hope today. 

I dare you to be open your bible and be filled with the words of Christ Jesus. 

The world tells us there is no hope. 

God tells us the opposite. 

Hope lives. 

Hope rises. 

Hope dwells. 

Dare to look different than the world. 

Dare to hope when all seems lost. 

Dare to put your last penny on Jesus and His Word. 

His Word never returns void. 

clinging to Hope, 

jill