Sometimes in our deep despair all we have is a thread of hope to hang on to. So, what is hope? Well, the short answer is hope is a promise that God will always make a way. David said this in Psalm 34:19, “The righteous person may have many troubles, but the LORD delivers him from them all.”
Such was the case of Rahab, a prostitute whose story is told in Joshua chapter 2. Rahab owned an inn near the city gate of Jericho, a city ‘soon’ to be conquered by the Israelites.
Rahab heard about God’s greatness and had come to believe He was the one true God. So she hid the two Israeli spies that Joshua, the commander of the Israelite army, had sent on a scouting mission into Jericho.
The king of Jericho heard that the spies had been at Rahab’s home, so he sent orders for her to turn them over. When the king’s soldiers questioned her of the whereabouts of the two spies, Rahab misguided the soldiers and sent them on a wild goose chase after the spies whom she had actually hidden on her roof.
Once the soldiers were gone, Rahab asked the spies to save her and her household. She promised to keep silent about their mission if they would spare her family when the Israelites invaded the city of Jericho. The spies told her to hang a scarlet cord from her window opening as a sign to the Jews to protect her.
Rahab obeyed and when the walls of Jericho fell, Rahab’s life, and all those in her household, hung by the thread of hope that the spies would keep their word.
When it came to pass she and her entire family were spared from the destruction when the walls of Jericho crumbled. Her household was passed over. Protected. Delivered. Just as it was promised!
Like Rahab, the only thing we have between ourselves and plights, test, trials, and challenges is a thin thread of hope. When all is said and done, we will always have the love of God, the hope He offers and the peace He gives.
Each of us needs a thread of hope-a reminder that just as God saved Rahab, God can save each of us. He may or may not completely change the outcome stemming from our plights, test, trials, or challenges, but He can insulate and protect us from being taken under the falling rubble that surrounds us.
He is there when we’re hanging on by a thread. Even at our weakest point, a simple cry such as, “Lord, help me” invites the hand of God to take hold of our situation. And deliver us.
In Isaiah 54:11–17, the prophet Isaiah delivers a message from God about the restoration of Jerusalem after its destruction by the Babylonians. Verse 17 reminded Jerusalem that, “No weapon formed against you [them] will prosper.”
In saying that “no weapon formed against you [them] shall prosper,” God promises the people of Jerusalem that no enemy will be able to produce successful weapons against them. The word prosper here means “succeed.” The previous verse gives context: “See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc” (Isaiah 54:16).
Did you catch that? God didn’t promise that our enemies will not create weapons planned for our destruction, however He did promise that those weapons will not succeed in destroying us! God is in charge. He created the one who creates the weapons, and He will see to it that whatever weapons are wielded by our enemies would be ineffective against us. This promise will see its ultimate fulfillment in the millennial kingdom of Christ (Isaiah 51).
The primary point the Lord wants to communicate in this passage of text is that He alone is our salvation. Even when bad things happen to us—when we feel defeated and crushed by our enemies—we can trust and not be afraid: “God is our shelter and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not be afraid, even if the earth is shaken and mountains fall into the ocean depths; even if the seas roar and rage, and the hills are shaken by the violence” (Psalm 46:1–3, GNB).
I want to remind you that God didn’t leave us empty handed in this fight against evil. We too have been equipped with our own weapons. In 2 Corinthians 10:4, the apostle Paul tells us that we have been given tools to fight against our enemy, but our weapons are not ordinary armaments: “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” Often, the enemy hits us with spiritual strongholds of confusion, depression, anger, anxiety, fear, temptation, and loneliness. But the Lord has given us His Word as our sword and faith as our shield (Proverbs 30:5; Hebrews 4:12), and not to mention we have His spiritual armor to protect us (Ephesians 6:10–18).
Here’s the really good news, God is in command. He controls both those who make weapons and those who use them. The battle is not ours, but the Lord’s (2 Chronicles 20:15; 1 Samuel 17:47). He has already won the contest. Through Jesus Christ, He has defeated the final enemy, who is death, and purchased for us eternal life (2 Timothy 1:10; see also Isaiah 25:8; Hebrews 2:14; Revelation 1:18). The Lord will protect and uphold His children, no matter what we face, and He will always be there to help us through to the final victory (Isaiah 41:10).
You can’t see what’s going on in the supernatural with natural lens (eyes). Hebrews 11:1-3 tells us that, “Faith is the substance of things hope for and the evidence of things unseen. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Faith (big or small) removes the scales from our natural lens so that we are able to see and discern what God is doing behind the supernatural veil.
We’ve all heard it said, “Faith sees the invisible, believes the impossible, and receives the incredible.” You might be saying, “Lowell, what little faith I had is now shattered and broken, what now?!!” Well, if that’s you, I want you to now that faith in pieces is still big enough for God to move that mountain obscuring your supernatural vision. Jesus said this in Matthew 17:20-21, “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you [to see].”
Habakkuk 2:4 includes the well-known statement “the righteous will live by faith.” Additionally, Paul quotes it in Romans 1:17, emphasizing the idea that righteousness by faith is for both Jews and Gentiles: “For in the gospel a righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written, ‘The righteous will live by faith.”
That being said, I invite you to substitute the word ‘live’ with ‘see’ and re-read the above two passages of text. I guarantee your measure of faith would agree that just because you don’t see anything happening, doesn’t mean God isn’t working on your behalf.
Philippians 1:6 declares, “That He who began the good work within us, will continue His work until it’s finished in the day when Christ returns.”
This is a powerful and season-changer reminder that should be a perennial source of encouragement for every born again believer.
That being said, we can confidently believe and boldly declare the following over our lives:
God is not done with our dreams.
God is not done with our ministries.
God is not done with our children.
God is not done with our careers.
God is not done with our marriages.
God is not done with our physical, emotional, spiritual, mental, and financial well-being.
God is not done with us!
My brothers and sisters, no matter where we’ve fallen or cracked, our Maker has a grand design and intention for us that is not yet complete. Therfore, you and I can give all praise to God, rest in hope, and turn our focus upward (vertically) and outward (horizontally) because God isn’t done with us yet!
Undoubtedly, our plans don’t always line up with God’s plan and when that happens God will make an audible play. In those ‘hail mary pass’ moments, God is protecting us from things we didn’t factor or simply just failed to see!
My brothers and sisters here’s the proverbial spoiler alert: God will ruin your plans so that your plans don’t ruin you. I love the NLT ‘make it plain’ translation of Proverbs 19:21 and it reads, “You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail.”
In a very nurturing and loving way, when God augments, alters, revises, and/or completely changes our plans He is simply telling us that He is omniscient and we’re not!
His Sovereignty is embedded in His omniscience. Therefore, sovereignty is His authority to rule over everything consequential and infinitesimal. There are no limits nor boundaries to God’s rule. Nothing is outside His control: not your life circumstances, your relationships, your family, nor your job.
It’s encumbent upon us to remember that because God is good, everything He does is good. If everything He does is good, then everything He does is for our good. When He changes your plans, it’s because He knows what you do not know and it’s good for you. God loves you. He doesn’t have ulterior motives or a hidden agendas. He is making us more and more like Jesus, His perfect Son. What could be better for you? Everything He does is preparing you for eternity with Him. Everything he does is bringing glory to Him, which is always good for you. It might not always feel good, but that doesn’t mean it’s not good. Your feelings are not truth. God’s word is.
I want to encourage you today by reminding you that nothing that has happened to you is a surprise to God!
Proverbs 15:13 confirms, “The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good”, Job 18:24 adds, “For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens”, and I Peter 3:12 corroborates, “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
I don’t know who I am preaching to today, but I want you to know that God sees you, God knows your name, God sees your situation, and God sees your need!
God sees you: He knows the very number of hairs on your head (Matthew 10:30). Consider that your worth is more than the many sparrows in the sky (Luke 12:7). And, consider that He took an intimate interest in forming you, that you are “fearfully and wonderfully made; that all of His “works [that being you!] are wonderful” (Psalm 139:13-14).
God knows your name: As His precious child, He knows each and every “sheep” by name (John 10:3). And, not only is your name known, it is “engraved” on the palm of his hand (Isaiah 49:16). Being engraved carries a deeper implication than being written. Being engraved means it is “cut, carved” into God’s palm, implying permanence, something that cannot be erased.
God sees your situation: Jehovah El Roi is not blind to your plight. Your situation has not taken Him by surprise, although it may have taken you by surprise. Being omniscient (all knowing), God sees exactly what is happening to you every second of the day—good and bad. Your situation—your very life—is always before his eyes. Nothing escapes His divine notice or attention.
God sees your need: Hebrews 4:14-16 says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
My beloved brothers and sisters, if God did it once, He will do it again! God cares for you, and He makes plans for your provision, even before you know you will need it. That being said, start declaring with me: “GOD, I PRAISE YOU IN ADVANCE FOR DELIVERING ME FROM____________BECAUSE I KNOW YOUR EYES SAW IT BEFORE IT HAPPENED!”
4GIVEN 