Have you been faced with a situation where you feel like all is lost? If the scenario that is laid out before you played out, would you be ruined? This situation happened frequently in the lives of the Israelites. The Egyptians were barreling down on the them as the Israelites were trying to escape Egypt and slavery. God parted the waters, and they were saved from the Egyptian army.
In another situation, God destroyed Jerusalem and sent the Israelites into exile, he promised them in Jeremiah 29:11 that it would be for their good, not to harm them. Whether God delivers you directly from a situation immediately or you are taken into exile for a time, God does have a hope and a future for your life.
Because of sin, this earth is tainted. We will go through hardship, we could go through sickness, death of loved ones, financial ruin, hurt from relationships, and pain of all kinds. This is not how God intended things to go. By his design, we were to live with him in community not to be disconnected from him. He loved us so much that he gave us a choice to be with him or choose to put ourselves first. Even in our bad choices or difficult circumstances that are out of our control, God promises us that he will never leave us or forsake us in Psalm 25:3. Joseph in the bible was imprisoned twice for circumstances out of his control. Many years later, when Joseph was second in command over Egypt, he was speaking to his brothers who had imprisoned him, he said, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.” Genesis 50:20
I don’t know what circumstances that you are presently dealing with, but what I do know is that in Romans 8:28 Paul says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” When we love God, submit to Christ, and believe in what he did on the cross for our sins, all the other circumstances, however painful, will work out for our good in the end. Many times, we might not know that purpose until we are in heaven.
Our body now is like a tent as Paul describes it in 2 Corinthians 5:1. “For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” May we hold loosely to the things of this earth, material, our own selfish desires, and grudges that we hold from the pain that has been afflicted upon us. This life we have been given on this earth is such a short temporary experience, compared to eternity in heaven.
Romans 8:18-21, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."
May we wait expectantly, in hope, for the day when we shed our temporary tents and are given an eternal home. All our wrongs will be made right. However, until that day comes, may we endure and run the race that is set before us. Let us take hope knowing that the God who will never leave us or forsake us is right there holding our hand.
Your worth is unmeasurable. You have been bought with a price. You are loved.
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