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Sample Devotional: Even in the Weariness of Today, God Promises a Future and a Hope

 

Lamentations 3:24 ESV
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

Jeremiah 29:10-14 NIV
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to 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 will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Hope is the confident expectation of God’s promises. We can find hope in the Lord when we believe he will deliver what he has promised. Even in the weariness of today, God promises a future and a hope, just as he promised the exiled Israelites that their suffering would not last forever. We are admonished to pray and seek him in earnest; in turn, God promises we will find him. 

A sparkling starry night, the vast beauty of the ocean, the intricateness of the tallest tree, or the tiny chubby fingers of a small child can remind us of all that God has done. The God who sits above the circle of the earth sent Jesus for our sake and he calls us by name.  

Often this viewpoint of looking beyond our own circumstances reminds us of who God is. He is bigger than all this world can hold and certainly more than the sum of all our problems. He is the strength, and comfort we need to get through today because he has secured for us a place. A place with him, of safety, truth, peace, strength and hope. In God, I find hope that he can and will do all that he has promised. God is not deterred by circumstances. Run to him to find hope.

Pray and reflect in the Lord’s presence. “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). Thank God for the Scriptures, where we see his promises kept, helping us put our hope in his unfailing love. Where are you feeling hopeless? Talk openly with God about this today, for the Lord is your portion, your hope for today and tomorrow.

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