HOPE
During Advent we hear many scriptures from Isaiah.
Today's first reading is from Isaiah 40:25-31. I don't know about you, but I love thinking of our Creator God every morning when I wake up and how he created everything out of His infinite love for us. He is so mighty and powerful. Omnipotence! He knows every detail of our life. Like he knows the number of hairs on each of our heads, he also knows the number of stars in the sky and is all-knowing. Omniscience! And he is everywhere. Omnipresence!
Sometimes due to circumstances in our lives we think God has not heard our prayers, or the cries of the heart, but as Isaiah instructs, God knows all. He's heard our prayers and He will answer them in an intelligent purposeful way with His perfect timing.
The verse that really struck me this morning was, "They that HOPE in the LORD will renew their strength." It reminds me of a song my husband and I used to sing for many years. The words were, "They that wait upon the Lord, will renew their strength..."
Starting this Christmas Eve, we will begin a Jubilee 2025 Year of Hope. That's one good reason the word "hope"resonates so much. More than anything I do pray that you will be filled with hope, and believe that you have a future full of hope no matter what you are facing. (Jeremiah 29:11) Some of you may be facing great tragedy, may reside in war-ravaged areas, may be abused, neglected or persecuted. Whatever the cry of your heart, the Lord hears you. Keep trusting, keep waiting, keep hoping! One day at a time.
Here is the living and active Word of God from Isaiah. It is "sharper than any two-edged sword." (Hebrews 4:12) May it pierce your heart with its truth, lead you on your way with far-sighted vision, and fill you with renewed life and strength:
“To whom can you liken me as an equal?
says the Holy One.
Lift up your eyes on high
and see who has created these things:
He leads out their army and numbers them,
calling them all by name.
By his great might and the strength of his power
not one of them is missing!
Why, O Jacob, do you say,
and declare, O Israel,
"My way is hidden from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?
Do you not know
or have you not heard?
The LORD is the eternal God,
creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint nor grow weary,
and his knowledge is beyond scrutiny.
He gives strength to the fainting;
for the weak he makes vigor abound.
Though young men faint and grow weary,
and youths stagger and fall,
They that hope in the LORD will renew their strength,
they will soar as with eagles' wings;
They will run and not grow weary,
walk and not grow faint.” Is 40:25-31
God bless and keep you always close to His Most Sacred Heart!
