Hoping In The Lord

My father in law loves watching Animal Planet and other shows about nature. There’s something fascinating to him about the shows where they narrate a lion stalking it’s prey. The animals travel in heards as they search for water, but are unknowingly being followed. When the lion shows itself, fear breaks out. Most animals stay together as they run in fear, but several scatter and peel off from the heard. One thing I’ve noticed about these shows is that the lion never goes after those that stay with the heard. He always goes after those who let fear cause them to be alone. I find myself rooting for the underdog in those situations hoping they find their way back to the heard. Unfortunately the lion almost always wins because fear causes the prey to make the wrong decisions.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us that the devil roams the earth like a lion seeking people to devour. He uses the same tactics real lions use: stalking, fear, intimidation and loneliness. I see this pandemic as a way of trying to separate people from the heard and to instill fear in people causing them to make poor choices. Fear does not come from God. Hope does. He has plans for us that give us hope and a future, but we can’t be ruled by fear. Even though this looks never ending, we must continually put our hope in the Lord and stay closely connected to the Body of Believers. The enemy wants to sift us the way he wanted to separate Peter. God is faithful and He’s working everything out for our good, so we must continue to hope and trust in Him.

Here are some Bible verses on placing our hope in the Lord.

1. Be strong, be courageous, all you that hope in the Lord.

Psalm 31:24 GNT

2. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.

Lamentations 3:21-22 NLT

3. Let your hope keep you joyful, be patient in your troubles, and pray at all times.

Romans 12:12 GNT

4. So then, my soul, why would you be depressed? Why would you sink into despair? Just keep hoping and waiting on God, your Savior. For no matter what, I will still sing with praise, for living before his face is my saving grace!

Psalms 42:5 TPT

5. So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change! And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time—an unshakeable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong, unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold, and where Jesus, our forerunner, has gone in before us. He is now and forever our royal Priest like Melchizedek.

Hebrews 6:18-20 TPT

Photo by Ahmed Hasan on Unsplash