WHERE is our hope ???

Last Sunday morning, as we rode through the quiet streets of our town returning from early church, I found myself humming the melody of a favorite hymn,  The Solid Rock -
"My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.  I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand..all other ground is sinking sand."


And then when checking my email I found the following from my dear friend Bev -

I HOPE your Sunday is divine.
followed by  -

Where is our hope to be ?
In Psalm 42:5 we read- "Why are you in despair, oh my soul and why have you become disturbed within me ? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, for the help of His presence."
Repeated in verse 11, repeated again in Psalm 43:5...
He wants us for Himself, to put our hope in Him totally and first. He does not want us to have anyone more important or in first place before Him. - that is why our soul gets disturbed.
In Psalm 42:1-2 -
He wants us to be like the deer that pants for the water brooks - Our soul to pant for Him. He wants our soul to thirst for God, for the living God. Our soul is in despair when we want someone or something else more than God.

In Psalm 73:25 we read-
"Whom have I in heaven but You?  And besides You, I desire nothing on earth."
 We cannot have hope or peace or confidence or trust in anyone but God.
In Psalm 34:8 we also read - 
"O taste and see that the Lord is good - how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him."
How can I taste that the Lord is good?
Through the Word.
Jeremiah. 15:16 -
"I found Your words and I ate them and Your words became for me a joy and delight of my heart."
How can I see that the Lord is good ? By looking at who He is in the Word, by looking at Jesus, by looking at creation.
Then I will be blessed for I am then taking refuge in Him.

Oh that we might desire Him more than anything else, Ask Him to change your mind, to change your thinking when it is not in line with His Word and His will.
This calls for surrender totally to the One who bought you with a price (His life) - I Cor 6:20.

And I wonder - are you standing on the edge of your hope?  Is life more than you think you can bear?  These verses will point you back to our ONLY Hope -

As the contemporary hymn, "In Christ Alone" reverberates in our hearts-
In Christ alone my hope is found, He is my light, my strength, my song;

this Cornerstone, this solid Ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All, here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh fullness of God in helpless babe!

This gift of love and righteousnes scorned by the ones he came to save:

Till on that cross as Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied -
For every sin on Him was laid; here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day, up from the grave he rose again!

And as He stands in victory, sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,

For I am His and He is mine - Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death, this is the power of Christ in me;

From life’s first cry to final breath.  Jesus commands my destiny.

No power of hell, no scheme of man, can ever pluck me from His hand;

Till He returns or calls me home, Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.
                       Lyrics: Stuart Townend

                       Music: Keith Getty

Praying for you friends.....