It has been a year and two days since I last wrote a blog post, but that doesn’t mean I’ve fallen off the face of the earth! Life has been full of changes, including a good deal of reading and writing for my master’s program. This month falls between semesters, so I’d like to visit with you a few times over the next several weeks.
We got a little bit of white stuff on the ground a few days ago, and it got me excited about putting up a new window bird feeder. I had to wait for the bears around here to go to sleep for the winter before I could feed the birds, or I’d be feeding the bears instead! There were no bears at all where we lived last, so that’s a new development in our experience list. I’ll just have to put away the bird feeder in the spring before the bears come out of hibernation with growling empty bellies.
The birds were hoping for breakfast one morning, and were so excited when the treasure chest was unexpectedly opened for them! What fun my morning coffee time has become, watching chickadees, nuthatches, and tufted titmice taking turns at the feeder!
Hope
This will be our first December in our new house in the mountains, and we’re hoping for a couple of good snowstorms this winter. We got a foretaste of snow, but we’re hoping for more! I don’t think our hope is the same as that mentioned in Psalm 42, though.
‘“O God my rock,” I cry, “why have you forgotten me? Why must I wander around in grief, oppressed by my enemies?” Their taunts break my bones. They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”
Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!’
Psalms 42:9-11 (NLT)
The psalmist wrote from a dark place of grief, oppression, and being taunted by enemies. Out of deeper need sprang greater hope. They did not choose to hope in wealth, changes in government, or even a new home far from their troubles. Instead, they made the decision to hope in God, their Savior.
James tells us that God never changes (James 1:17)! I don’t think there’s room in the word “never” for a single variation. God had been the Savior of his people over and over again throughout their history, and he didn’t change hundreds of years later when his Son was born to save the world.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
John 3:16-17
It’s almost Christmas, the season we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Son of God. Our lives may look far from festive as we struggle through depression, grief, financial hardship, strained family relationships, long-term illness, fear, or any of a host of other issues, but we can join the psalmist and say, “I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again–my Savior and my God!”
When our hope is set on the Father and the Son, we know salvation from our enemies of death and destruction is on the way. We may not see deliverance in the way or time we want, but we can be sure God will remain true to his role as Savior.
When we hope in God, we wait with eager expectation on the one who is reliable and worthy of His people’s trust.1 Take some time today to tell him your worries, needs, and fears, and choose to trust him in hope.
“I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
- Lexham Bible Dictionary, “Hope.” ↩︎
More posts on Hope:
Lauri Hawley 
Thank you!!
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