I love that word, hope. It is my daughter's middle name. According to the dictionary, it means, a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. I think of different times and seasons in my life when I was filled with hope. As a child, I can remember from Thanksgiving Day all the way to Christmas morning being filled with excitement and expectation to see if I was going to get those presents that I was hoping for! I can remember years later, planning for my wedding. I can remember buying the gown and making all the plans. I absolutely loved all the preparation! There's so much hope during that time and season as you join yourself to another and you have such hope for the future together. It was only a few years after that and when I was expecting my first child, Natalie Hope. Oh the hopes and dreams for her that I held in my heart! Just the anticipation of seeing her face to face and holding her in my arms for the first time, there is nothing like it in all the world! That was such a special time in my life.
We hope and then sometimes things happen, don't they? Proverbs 13:12 says Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. The Hebrew translation for that word sick (chalah) means to be weak, afflicted, to grieve. It means to make sick and speaks of a diseased heart. It also means to travail, to become weak, and to be wounded. Have you ever felt wounded, afflicted, or weak? Have you ever grieved to the point that you felt your heart was breaking? I know I have in more than one season of my life. One of my favorite scriptures is Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. He wants you to have hope and expectation because no matter what things may look like right now, He has a future for you!
This is what He says about you: “But I will court her again and bring her into the wilderness, and I will speak to her tenderly there. There I will give back her vineyards to her and transform her Valley of Troubles into a Door of Hope. She will respond to me there, singing with joy as in days long ago in her youth after I had freed her from captivity in Egypt. “In that coming day,” says the Lord, “she will call me ‘My Husband’ instead of ‘My Master.’ and I will bind you to me forever with chains of righteousness and justice and love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and love, and you will really know me then as you never have before. Hosea 2: 14-16, 19-20 TLB.
I can vividly recall the circumstances in my life when a friend encouraged me with this scripture. I had been in a place of hope deferred for a long time. I was weary. I felt afflicted. I felt weak and I felt ashamed because I was supposed to be "spiritual". For the most part, I kept it all in not knowing who I could talk to and not wanting to look like I was complaining. So, I took it all to the Lord. I asked Him to be my all-in-all and to meet every need in my life that wasn't being met, to fill every void that wasn't being filled. I had asked Him to be my husband. Then suddenly I was thrust into a situation that was very difficult, one where this passage in Hosea 2 brought so much comfort. I love that God is able to meet every need in our lives. He's a father to the fatherless, He's a comforter and a friend. He's El Shadai, a nurturer. He's a fierce warrior, a refuge, and a strong tower. He's the Prince of Peace and the Lion of Judah and it is His joy that becomes my strength. I love that in my weakness, I am made strong, and He makes a way in the wilderness and gives us streams in the desert. He does all of that and He calls us by name. His is never far off. He is intimately aware of us.
That word wilderness in Hosea chapter 2 speaks of a desert place. It's a dry place. It's not a comfortable place to be. It is a lonely place. It is also a barren place. But He is there, even at times the one who leads us to that place. He never condemns us, shames us, or reminds us of all we did wrong. Instead, He speaks tenderly to us. Isn't that amazing?? He doesn't have to condemn us because it's His goodness that leads us to repentance. When we see how good His thoughts and intents are toward us, it does something inside of us that changes everything. He's not like those in your life who used and abused you. Yes, He does lead us into the wilderness, to that place where we must rely on Him. That is where we hear him speaking tenderly to our wounded hearts.
It says "I will give back her vineyards to her". The enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But Jesus is the restorer of all things. He doesn't restore back to a certain point, back to that time before we were wounded, before the enemy raided our vineyards and took of all the fruit. No, He does so much more. He restores back everything that you did not even know that was yours. He restores all that you did not even know you were missing, things that you have not even imagined yet! He gives you back the vineyard and fruit and restores fruit that you didn't even know was there! Just remain in Him. (John 15). He turns the Valley of Achor (troubles) into a door of hope. What I thought was the worst thing that could have happened, actually freed me and it also freed my children. It was a terrible thing, but in the wilderness place, He spoke tenderly to me and now we have hope again! That place, that terrible thing that happened, actually became a door of hope!
It says "She will respond to me there singing with joy as in days long ago in her youth after I had freed her from captivity in Egypt." That was my story! In my youth, He brought me out of captivity in Egypt, in the world. I was bound to addiction, depression, and even an attempted suicide that most people aren't aware of. I cried out to Him like I did as a child and He brought me out! He brought me into the place of singing. Worship became my thing. I could sit for hours and worship in His presence. There was nowhere else I would have rather been. He's brought me back into that place once again, singing as in the days of my youth, when I first was baptized in the Holy Ghost, when I first came into a new understanding of who He was. Now I have an even greater understanding, and wisdom to go with that zeal that I once had. He is lighting the fire again, returning me to my first love, Him! He is no longer master, but husband. It's an intimate relationship, not one of striving or working. If He did this for me, He will do it for you! This is authentic living, being known by Him and knowing Him!
"I will bind you to me forever with chains of righteousness and justice and love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness and love, and you will really know me then as you never have before.". That is what it is about. Relationship with Him, knowing Him. It's experiencing His love and goodness every single day. It's growing in relationship with Him, fresh revelation of who He is, going from glory to glory. No matter where you are right now in life, there is a door of hope. Don't listen to or come into agreement with those voices of condemnation, that is not His voice. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. He is your door of hope!! I am the Gateway. To enter through me is to experience life, freedom, and satisfaction. A thief has only one thing in mind—he wants to steal, slaughter, and destroy. But I have come to give you everything in abundance, more than you expect—life in its fullness until you overflow! John 10:9-10 TPT
If you are in that valley of trouble, He will speak tenderly to you. I declare over you that today your ears are open to hear His voice speaking to you tenderly. Can you hear him wooing you? He calls to you. "Aries, my dearest. Hurry, my darling. Come away with me! I have come as you have asked to draw you to my heart and lead you out. For now is the time, my beautiful one. The season has changed, the bondage of your barren winter has ended and the season of hiding is over and gone. The rains have soaked the earth and left it bright with blossoming flowers. The season for singing and pruning the vines has arrived. I hear the cooing of the doves in our land, filling the air with songs to awaken you and guide you forth. Can you not discern this new day of destiny break forth around you? The earthly signs of my purposes and plans are bursting forth. The budding vines of new life are now blooming everywhere. The frangrance of their flowers whispers, "There is change in the air." Arise my love, my beautiful companion, and run with me to the higher place. For now is the time to arise and come away with me. - Song of Songs 2:10-13. TPT
- Learning to live authentically!
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