Holy Father,
Thank You for being a God Who keeps Your promises (Joshua 21:45). Unlike people who make promises without follow-through, You fulfill what You say when You accomplish Your plans (Lamentations 2:17). You are attentive to Your Word so that it actualizes Your purpose (Jeremiah 1:12).
Amid our pain, You’ve provided a promise for every problem. As we meditate on Your promises, we find that they span throughout generations without expiration date. The promises You made to Adam and Abraham apply not only to today but also to tomorrow.
Merely looking into our history gives hope. When You vowed that,” All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the Lord,” our forefather Robert Hunt declared in 1607, “from these very shores the Gospel shall go forth to not only this New World but the entire world” (Psalm 22:27). The covenants that You made with our nation’s founders are still intact today. We await their final fulfillment through honoring the promises.
I confess that sometimes when I look at the circumstances around me, nothing points to restoration. Like the author of Ecclesiastes, I feel that all of my best efforts are futile (Ecclesiastes 2:17). Yet, as I continue to seek Your Word, I find Your embedded purpose in my futility. “For creation was condemned to lose its purpose… because God willed it to be so” (Romans 8:20 Good News Translation). We must release our self-seeking purpose before we know Yours (Romans 8:28).
Pain is the pathway that penetrates the division of soul and spirit (Romans 8:22). There, in the shadow of death, we are exposed to see our thoughts as God does (Hebrews 4:12). And even there, “Thy Hand will lead me” (Psalm 139:11). The promises which You make in our darkest hours continue to stimulate hope. Your “Spirit is abiding in (our) midst,” so we will not fear (Haggai 2:5).
So today, whether we walk in light or darkness, we remember Your vision remains the same (Psalm 139:12). Even seeming futility has purpose when You are our Shepherd. Thank You for the confidence of knowing that, since You started work within us, You will continue it until Your promise is fulfilled (Philippians 1:6). In Jesus’ Name, Amen.