My subject this month is from Psalm 121 and it’s “How to Find Hope in a World That Is Hopeless.†In verse one of Psalm 121 we see that if we are going to find hope we must LIFT UP OUR HEADS! “I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.†There is no hope in looking down. There is only help and hope in the Lord!
Folks I learned it the hard way…any idiot can tell you when everything is wrong. It takes a born again, Spirit filled, Bible believing, blood washed, on their way to Heaven and eyes on the prize Christian to survey the situation and look UP with HOPE for the future. No wonder people are upset at their government. A lot of us are disappointed in ourselves! Well, the simple truth is that we can only be upset and disappointed in what we THOUGHT was going to help us and we can’t help ourselves and we (as believers) should have never been looking to the government for our help because our help comes from the Lord!
A lot of people have reduced our Christianity to a religion of Do’s and Don’ts. If I DO this God will be happy with me. If I DON’T do that then God will be happy with me. Hey…there is nothing…NOTHING you can do in your own strength that will EVER impress God.
The truth is that we think WE can help ourselves or that someone…the government or whoever is going to help us and only God can do that. Our help comes from the Lord! Any time we are disappointed in somebody or something it is because we were depending on them for something they couldn’t do anyway…HELP us.
Psalm 121 also tells us that our God is awake. Verse 3 says it, verse 4 says it…our God does not slumber nor sleep. It 1989 He was awake when my father passed away. I know He was awake because I was talking to Him and He was listening to me. He was awake when President Obama was elected to office. He was awake when he took the oath of office. He was awake when Healthcare legislation passed. You’re single and don’t like it but God is awake. You have received bad news from the doctor but God is awake and He will be your helper in the midnight! He will lead you to the right mate for life. Why? He’s awake!
Six times in this Psalm it says “He will KEEP you!†He will keep you because He is awake. Presidents, kings, dictators, preachers and potentates may all go to sleep for a while but our God never sleeps! While the Healthcare bill (that many of you hate) was passing God was awake. I know He was awake because we had two to join and one was baptized at our church that SUNDAY! He wasn’t feeling defeated and deciding to nap on Monday to recover from a bad weekend.
I know He was awake because TWO were saved in my office Monday afternoon AFTER the Health care legislation had passed!! A young lady who was so shy that when she prayed to receive Jesus I had to look up and watch her mouth move to make sure she was praying. That’s OK because she didn’t have to roust God out of a “long winter’s nap†to get His attention. He was awake and as she received Him, He received her. A young man with tears streaming down his face prayed to ask Christ into his heart and God didn’t throw back the covers and with a disgusted look on His face kick His feet and reluctantly get out of bed. No…He was awake and heard the young man cry out for mercy and help and He helped him with salvation that only He could give!
Do all the politics you want to do but please don’t ever fear that our God can’t help or that He is somehow asleep for He can help and He never slumbers nor sleeps! As the old spiritual says…He’s an on time God…yes He is!
And I will look to the hill where my helper is and I will know…HE is awake An old timer once told me “the Lord is awake and if He’s awake…there’s no sense BOTH of us being up…I’m going to bed!”
Thanks so much to Dr. Jeff Steele for his commitment to bringing our SGN Scoops readers awesome truths from the Bible in every month of SGN Scoops digital magazine!
This devotion was first published in December 2013 in SGN Scoops magazine. For this month’s magazine and Dr. Jeff Steele’s devotion, click on to http://www.sgnscoops.com/2014/05/17/may-2014-sgnscoops-magazine/
