Monday 30 June 2008

The joyful anticpation of things unseen

"But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine.

We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in you" Ps 33: 18-22


It seems everywhere I look at the moment I see waiting, from the words I read in the bible to the friend who has just had a hospital operation postponed for the second time. And then last week I read these words in Daily Bread.

Biblical hope is stronger than wishing and wanting. It is an expectation grounded upon our Father’s word. Corrie ten Boom knew she could wait in hope in a Nazi concentration camp. Joni Eareckson Tada learned to trust in his holy name even when she wasn’t healed. We too have good reason to hope, even when life seems hopeless, because God’s love for us is unfailing and he is faithful in all he does.
It is almost as if hope and waiting are two sides of the same coin and one does not make sense without the other. Yet while waiting continues unabated, hope ebbs and flows.

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