I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people. Ephesians 1:18 NIV
Rick Warren’s Daily Hope devotional resonated with me this morning. HOPE has been my word for the past year and a half and his words clarified why this has been so important to me.
One of my favorite verses is from Proverbs 29:18, it says,“Where there is no vision … the people perish” (AMP). If we can’t see clearly, it means we have lost our vision and therefore, our hope.
We hear stories of people hanging on in indescribably difficult circumstances. I read the book by Louis Zamperini, Unbroken, and was amazed at his determination and stamina, lost for weeks, floating in the ocean, with seemingly no hope of ever being found. But God.
I know my life has messy and dark moments. I can’t see the path ahead. The pain and disappointment threaten to overwhelm me and I want to give up.
Rick says:
When you can’t see your way clearly, it means you’ve lost your vision, which means you’re going to lose your hope.
The key to making it through the struggle in your life, no matter how long it lasts, is hope. And you don’t just pull it out of the sky; you get it from God’s vision.
When you think about it, hope is the only answer. It is God’s vision for my life, my marriage, my family, my ministry, my writing, my speaking that is going to get me through and make any difference. This nation is sadly lacking hope because we think we know better than God how to run our lives, only to hit a roadblock, stumble and come up with no answers. Confusion, frustration, anger, and bitterness take over our soul.
But God. He is the vision-clearer, the hope-giver, and the joy-maker.
I pray that hope will settle in your heart and clear your vision to what God is doing in your life. He has untold riches for us as we trust Him.