Have you ever been lost and needed a way out? I Have. Have you ever lost something and have not been able to find it no matter how much you search for it? I have. What happens when you are in that situation do you lose hope? I do. Then all of a sudden you see what you have lost. Is your hope restored? Mine was. What is the most important thing you search for in your life? Do you know? I do. Would you like to know what the most important thing I search for and how when I find it, I have hope?
I have found that it is not the lost phone, the lost piece of jewelry, or the lost set of keys that are the most important things for me to find. It is not finding things that restore my hope.
It is finding my lost relationship with God that brings me hope. When I was born, I was born into sin because of Adam’s sin we were all born into sin. “Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” Romans 5:18-19 (ESV) Because of that sin my relationship with God was immediately broken I was out of relationship with Him. The good thing about this passage is it also says that by one man I can become righteous. With that righteousness I can again have a relationship with God.
I want to make it clear that I must pursue that relationship. God will not force it upon us. We must seek it. God gives Israel a promise through Jeremiah that I believe also applies to me and you. It is I believe important to notice the beginning of this passage. God does not promise instant relief He gives me relief in His timing. In the case of Israel, it was seventy years in Babylon. He then tells Israel that He has a good plan for them, which I believe He has a plan for me as well. He then tells Israel that they must do something. They must call upon Him, come to Him, and pray to Him. I believe the same is true for me. “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” Jeremiah 29:10-14 (ESV)
I must search for God who will give me hope. Jesus promises me, “For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” Matthew 7:9 (ESV) So I must ask, seek and knock on the only door that leads to eternal life. It is my hope and it is the hope that sustains me through all things.
So, join me in searching for the answers we need from God. Knowing when we find God and his answers for life’s difficult questions He will answer and that gives us hope. God is the only One who can give you true hope. He can make all things right. As you search receive hope for yourself and give hope to others by living in God’s faithfulness. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross satisfied the penalty for my sins and yours as well. It satisfied all my sins from the past, in the present and in the future. My penalty and yours was satisfied on the cross by the death of Jesus, God’s greatest act of love and wrath, who became sin for me and you. It was also God’s greatest act of faithfulness because “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 (ESV) Because of that we ought to believe in Jesus. I hope that you join me in choosing Jesus.
If you have not read my previous blogs, you can find them here.
You can find my book, Hope Amid Hopelessness: Our Abba Father Provides a Way Through Mental Illness here.
eBook or Audiobook versions can be found at Westbow Press or Christianbook.com at Amazon or Google
