A Picture Of Hope
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A PICTURE OF HOPE…
In the book of Habakkuk, it describes some very bleak circumstances: starvation, desolation and loss. Perhaps you are experiencing difficult times in your life: Job loss? Financial struggles? Illness? Heartache? Or the loss of a loved one? When everything around you is going wrong and the burdens you face seem to be more than you can bear even when all is lost God is still there! What should our response be when we experience hardship or trials? Some of us might begin to question why a just God would allow bad things to happen to his children. Why does an all powerful God who can do anything not prevent tragic events from impacting our lives?
We might begin to doubt him, and our faith might waiver during difficult times. Yet Habakkuk proclaims that even during devastating circumstances, he will still rejoice in his Savior and have faith in God’s ability to strengthen him. At some point in time, we all experience difficulties in life. Jesus himself told us, “In this world you will have trouble… (John 16:33)” He knew that our lives would not always be easy. But the conclusion of that verse gives us great hope, “…But take heart! I have overcome the world.” So even though the world will bring us trouble, our Savior has overcome the world!
If the circumstances of your life seem to be constantly churning with tumultuous changes, “take heart” and place your hope firmly in the unchanging Lord of your life. Rejoice in this truth: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). Trust in the eternal love, mercy, grace, and goodness of God, and realize that your “faith muscle” is being strengthened during times of adversity. Don’t allow your attitude to be dictated by your circumstances, but rather find joy and your strength to keep going in Jesus Christ. Perhaps God has a better opportunity for you on the other side of this hardship, but you have to have faith in him to see you through the dark valley. So when your life appears to be crumbling to pieces all around you, rejoice in the fact that Christ is your firm and solid foundation. “He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense, I shall not be moved” (Psalms 62:2).
You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. “God so loved the world that he gave…” Love means giving up – yielding my preferences, comfort, goals, security, money, energy, or time for the benefit of someone else. -Rick Warren
Never has anyone given up so much. It is claimed (by him as well as by those who tell us about him) that he renounced the joys of heaven for the sorrows of earth, exchanging an eternal immunity to the approach of sin for painful contact with evil in this world. He was born of a lowly Hebrew mother in a dirty stable in the insignificant village of Bethlehem. He became a refugee baby in Egypt. He was brought up in the obscure hamlet of Nazareth, and toiled at a carpenter’s bench to support his mother and the other children in their home. Eventually he became a traveling preacher, with few possessions, small comforts and no home. He made friends with ordinary people. He touched those with leprosy and allowed prostitutes to touch him. He gave himself away in a ministry of healing, helping, teaching and preaching. -John Stott
When the doors of empathy and compassion are opened, it extends an olive branch of kindness that offers grace and dignity to unseat the hidden shame in the unnoticed for them to no longer feel invisible when given the opportunity to be truly seen.
-ArkCha’GivingHope.Org
The power in suffering dwells great inner strength. Even in the aftermath of suffering and devastation there is always Godly hope and restoration. -ArkCha’GivingHope.Org