There Is Hope In Your Future

This has been a tough week for some of my friends. One of my brothers in Christ with whom I worship lost his father on Wednesday. On Valentines Day a man I used to officiate football with lost his beloved wife to cancer. On the same day the National Federation of Republican Assemblies (NFRA) lost one of its strongest Arkansas members to a massive heart attack. And finally another great NFRA warrior from Arizona passed away and was buried on Tuesday.

Additionally, twenty-nine months ago today my family lost our precious Eddie, my only son, in Iraq.

What do you do with such grief whether death comes expectantly or unexpectedly?

You grieve.

That is part of the healing process. As my pastor Bro Dennis taught us, the grief will come in bits and pieces and anything can trigger it; usually something you least expect. But that is part of God’s mercy because if one had to deal with all the grief at once it would literally kill you. Many are the widow and widower who died from a lonely heart.

For those of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and have the blessed assurance that their departed loved ones, because of their faith in Jesus Christ, are now with the King in Heaven, the grief is much less traumatic. One day we who are Christians because of the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ will have every tear wiped away and all the crowns we have earned on earth we will joyfully lay at the feet of our Blessed Redeemer.

Grieving is a part of life. The Prophet Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet but he recorded these comforting words from Jehovah-Rophe, the Lord who heals:

    “Thus says the LORD: ‘A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,’ says the LORD, ‘And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future,’ says the LORD, ‘That your children shall come back to their own border.’” (Jeremiah 31:15-17)

How do I refrain my voice from weeping and my eyes from tears in the middle of my grief? Again, it is okay to do these things but for us who have the hope of Jesus we can rest in the assurance that our departed loved ones are no longer suffering and one day we shall be delivered into that peace. This blessed assurance was delivered to the Apostle John in his vision on the Island of Patmos:

    “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:16-17)

There is hope in your future.

How can you be so sure?

My steadfast confidence is grounded in God, Jehovah-Jireh; the Lord who provides. David rested in this hope:

    “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the LORD.” (Psalm 31:24)

Many people are fearful of what the future may bring and for good reason; that is if you look only horizontally. There is a false hope that November will bring the restoration our country needs and while a change in Washington D.C. might bring temporary relief, our nation’s woes are much deeper than who is in the White House or who controls Congress.

There is false hope in a recovering economy. The smart economists predict, and I agree with them, that we have not yet seen the worse of the banking and housing markets. The Federal Reserve is now loaning itself money.

There is hope in your future; that is if you look vertically.

This hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. My confidence for the future rests in the hands of the Creator who made me and rules in the lives of men. No matter the future of America and the rest of the world, I belong to Jesus. I trust Him with my future:

    “Into Your hand I commit my spirit; You have redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.” (Psalm 31:5)

In what have you placed your future? In who have you placed your future? If it is anything or anyone other than Jehovah-Shalom, the Lord Our Peace, then it is a false and perishable hope for your future.

Won’t you trust Jesus today, even if you call yourself a Christian?

Can you place your future in the hands of a loving God?

Will you allow God to sanctify your life? Your most important relationship in life is with God, Jehovah-M’Kaddesh, the Lord who sanctifies. Anything else is only second best.

There can be hope for your future. I pray you will place into the hands of Jesus.

May you have a most blessed and peaceful weekend and please remember to go to church on Sunday.

In Christ
Dave
Ps. 37:4

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    Copyright © 2010 David Jeffers

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