Wednesday, June 20, 2018

PSALM 119:81 HOPE IN THE WORD


I long for the day of your return.
        I have put my hope in your word.
Your precepts I will not spurn.
        I have put my hope in your word.
Though at times I feel drained and dry,
        I have put my hope in your word.
When I can’t seem to see you and cry,
        I have put my hope in your word.
When it seems the bad guys prevail,
        I have put my hope in your word.
I know your commands will not fail,
        I have put my hope in your word.




            “For I have become like a bottle [a wineskin blackened and shriveled] in the smoke [in which it hangs], yet do I not forget Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:83 AMP)   Have you ever felt spiritually dry, shriveled, lifeless?  Have you ever been mentally fried?  Emotionally drained? Physically exhausted?  Those are the conditions I picture when I think of the wineskin in the smoke. 

        At those times, it requires an extreme effort to remember God’s word and continue to pursue it.  But it is especially true at those times that we need God’s word to sustain us and give us hope.  Remember the old hymn Standing on the Promises? If you have a hymnal, look it up and sing the whole thing; but camp on verse two:

                Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
                When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
                But the living word of God I shall prevail,
                Standing on the promises of God.

        We can count on God’s promises.  He promises never to leave us or forsake us, so we can rely on the fact that he is with us in any trial whether we “feel” him or not.  He promises to be faithful even when we are not. We can trust that his love will endure.  It’s hard to stand on his promises if you don’t know what they are.  Continue studying and memorizing scripture; and you will have solid ground on which to stand even on those days when, as my mother says, “Your get up and go has done got up and went.” Hope in God’s word!

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