Being Content Hope

Delivered

We read a lot about fear in the Bible. That makes sense as the Bible is filled with people who were persecuted and pursued, whose very lives were often threatened by people in authority. There are people who were betrayed by their family, those who traveled to distant and enemy lands and those who led their people in battle against those enemies. These people had many reasons to fear, yet throughout Scripture they are commanded not to, because of the faithfulness of God.

However, although life-threatening situations can certainly promulgate fear, there are other reasons that we become afraid. There’s fear of an unknown future when the uncertainty of life seems all too real. There’s the fear of unrealized dreams when we realize that the opportunity to do that which we desire seems to have passed us by. And there’s the fear that comes when our carefully laid plans never materialized and we realize how little control we actually have.

Yet just as the faithfulness of God should quell the fear of those whose lives are in jeopardy, so does His faithfulness calm the fear of those whose future is unclear. As Psalm 34:4 tells us:

I sought the LORD, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.

That word “all” holds such promise for us. It’s not only the fear that we know that God will deliver us from, but the fear of the unknown too.

As we trust in Him, His faithfulness will continued to be revealed. And we will find that we have no cause for fear.

Continue Reading

Being Content Hope

Joyfully Patient

There aren’t many people who are really good at waiting.

Sure, some of us are better than others, but when it comes to something we really want, something we’re really interested in, almost all of us watch the clock, count down the days, or stare at the inbox, hoping that our persistence will speed up the process.

We don’t like waiting.

Yet life is full of it.

And Scripture is full of instruction that a Christian who is waiting should look substantially different from a non-Christian.

– We are told to be anxious for nothing.

– We are told to wait on the Lord (not on luck, good fortune, or the passing of time.)

– We are told to wait thankfully.

And this can seem like an impossible task.

We will it to happen and yet it doesn’t. We try hard, yet it still seems evasive. We want to be joyful AND patient, but it seems like an antithetical combination.

Until we realize, it’s not in our own power to do so.

As Colossians 1:11 reminds us, it’s His power that gives us the ability to be patient with joy.

– His strength gives us the fortitude.

– His might gives us confidence.

– His sovereignty assures us that the future is under control…His control.

So just as we know we need Him to endure to the end, so we must rely on Him to be patient until the end gets here.

And because of Him, that patience can be filled with joy.

Because we know what we’re waiting for.

 

Continue Reading