Sept 20th Devotion
Hope
Charles Swindoll
Can you remember a recent "gray slush" day? Of course you can. So can I. The laws of fairness and justice were displaced by a couple of Murphy's Laws. Your dream dissolved into a nightmare. High hopes took a hike. Good intentions got lost in a comedy of errors, only this time nobody was laughing. You didn't soar, you slumped. Instead of "pressing on the upward way," you felt like telling Bunyan to move over as you slid down into his Slough of Despond near Doubting Castle, whose owner was Giant Despair. Discouragement is just plain awful.
One of the greatest benefits to be gleaned from the Bible is perspective. When we get discouraged, we temporarily lose our perspective. Little things become mammoth. A slight irritation, such as a pebble in a shoe, seems huge. Motivation is drained away and, worst of all, hope departs.
God's Word is tailor-made for gray-slush days. It sends a beam of light through the fog. It signals safety when we fear we'll never make it through. Such big-picture perspective gives us a hope transplant, and within a brief period of time, we have escaped the bleak and boring and we're back at soaring.
God has an ultimate goal in mind: that we might have hope. And what leads to such a goal? Two things: perseverance and encouragement from the Scriptures. Again, the goal is hope. God has not designed a life of despondency for us. He wants His people to have hope. And such hope comes from the teaching of the Bible. Through endurance and through encouragement from the Scriptures, we can gain hope.
He promises us hope—relief from discouragement. Yes, it's available. And we can actually stand firm through discouraging times but only if we apply His instructions. Hard as it may be for you to believe, you will be able to walk right through those "gray slush" days with confidence. The One who gives perseverance and encouragement will escort you through the down days, never leaving you in the lurch.
Discouragement may be awful, but it is not terminal.
Charles Swindoll
Can you remember a recent "gray slush" day? Of course you can. So can I. The laws of fairness and justice were displaced by a couple of Murphy's Laws. Your dream dissolved into a nightmare. High hopes took a hike. Good intentions got lost in a comedy of errors, only this time nobody was laughing. You didn't soar, you slumped. Instead of "pressing on the upward way," you felt like telling Bunyan to move over as you slid down into his Slough of Despond near Doubting Castle, whose owner was Giant Despair. Discouragement is just plain awful.
One of the greatest benefits to be gleaned from the Bible is perspective. When we get discouraged, we temporarily lose our perspective. Little things become mammoth. A slight irritation, such as a pebble in a shoe, seems huge. Motivation is drained away and, worst of all, hope departs.
God's Word is tailor-made for gray-slush days. It sends a beam of light through the fog. It signals safety when we fear we'll never make it through. Such big-picture perspective gives us a hope transplant, and within a brief period of time, we have escaped the bleak and boring and we're back at soaring.
God has an ultimate goal in mind: that we might have hope. And what leads to such a goal? Two things: perseverance and encouragement from the Scriptures. Again, the goal is hope. God has not designed a life of despondency for us. He wants His people to have hope. And such hope comes from the teaching of the Bible. Through endurance and through encouragement from the Scriptures, we can gain hope.
He promises us hope—relief from discouragement. Yes, it's available. And we can actually stand firm through discouraging times but only if we apply His instructions. Hard as it may be for you to believe, you will be able to walk right through those "gray slush" days with confidence. The One who gives perseverance and encouragement will escort you through the down days, never leaving you in the lurch.
Discouragement may be awful, but it is not terminal.
Recent
Archive
2022
January
Jan 3rd. DevotionJan. 4th DevotionJan. 5th DevotionJan 6th DevotionJan. 7th DevotionJan 10th DevotionJan 11th DevotionJan. 12th DevotionJan. 13th DevotionJan. 14th DevotionJan. 17th DevotionJan 18th DevotionJan. 19th DevotionJan. 20th DevotionJan. 21st. DevotionJan 25th. DevotionJan. 24th DevotionJan 25th DevotionJan. 27th DevotionJan. 28th DevotionJan. 31st Devotion
February
Feb. 1st. DevotionFeb 2nd DevotionFeb 3rd DevotionFeb. 4th DevotionFeb. 7th DevotionFeb 8th DevotionFeb. 9th DevotionFeb. 10th DevotionFeb. 11th DevotionFeb 14th DevotionFeb 15th DevotionFeb 16th DevotionFeb 17th DevotionFeb 18th DevotionFeb 21st DevotionFeb 22nd DevotionFeb 23rd DevotionFeb 24th DevotionFeb 25th DevotionFeb. 28th Devotion
March
March 1st DevotionMarch 2nd DevotionMarch 3rd DevotionMarch 4th DevotionMarch 10th DevotionMarch 11th DevotionMarch 14th DevotionMarch 15th DevotionMarch 16th DevotionMarch 17th DevotionMarch 18th DevotionMarch 21st DevotionMarch 22nd DevotionMarch 23rd DevotionMarch 24th DevotionMarch 25th DevotionMarch 28th DevotionMarch 29th DevotionMarch 30th DevotionMarch 31st Devotion
April
April 1st DevotionApril 4th DevotionApril 5th DevotionApril 6th DevotionApril 7th DevotionApril 8th DevotionApril 11th DevotionApril 12th DevotionApril 13th DevotionApril 14th DevotionApril 15th DevotionApril 18th DevotionApril 19th DevotionApril 20th DevotionApril 21st DevotionApril 21st DevotionApril 22nd DevotionApril 25th DevotionApril 26th DevotionApril 27th DevotionApril 28th DevotionApril 29th Devotion
May
May 2nd DevotionSunday Follow-upFollow-up to Sunday May 1st teachingMay 3rd DevotionFollow-up to May 1st teaching part 2May 4th DevotionMay 5th DevotionMay 6th DevotionMay 9th DevotionFollow-up to May 8th teachingMay 10th DevotionMay 11th DevotionMay 12th DevotionMay 13th DevotionMay 16th DevotionFollow-up to the May 15th teachingMay 17th Devotion
No Comments