This year has seen so much that hasn’t given us much hope. Nothing in this world is stable or strong enough for us to place our hope. But today’s Bible Journaling Scripture tells us that when we place our hope in God, He is our help and shield. Psalm 33:20-22 says, “We put our hope in the Lord. He is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone.” (NLT)
When we place our hope and trust in God, we have a source of Spiritual power that we cannot find anywhere else. A good example is when Joshua and Caleb came back with the ten other spies to check out the Promised Land. They placed their hope and trust in the Lord to the extent that they believed the Israelites could defeat the inhabitants and gain ownership of the Promised Land, whereas the other ten spies were not looking at the situation with faith in God, they were afraid and gave a bad report. (Numbers 13) In fact, their hope in God gave them power to defeat their enemies. In fact, 45 years later, at the age of 85, Caleb, states that he is as strong as he was 45 years earlier and was able to go to war even at his age. (Numbers 14:11) God had kept him alive and given him strength because of the hope Caleb had in the Lord. One whole generation of Israelites couldn’t see their ability to defeat their enemies because they didn’t place their hope in God. Because of their unbelief, God punished them by sending them back into the wilderness for 40 years until every person of that generation died, except for Joshua and Caleb.
As we continue to base our hope in Jesus, we can do things that we don’t think we can. God leads us into areas we never dream we could go. Twenty years ago, if someone would have told me I would be posting a blog that would reach people all over the world, I never would have believed it. It was something not even on my radar! But God placed a pastor in my pathway who spoke a prophetic word over me, telling me that I would be doing that exact thing! Did I jump right in and start a blog? No, I had to do some real hard soul-searching and a lot of prayer. I had to be absolutely certain that what was spoken really came from God, and then doors opened. I began noticing Bible Journaling entries on Pinterest. It seemed they were everywhere. I felt the nudge of God saying, “Use this as a tool.” So, I began writing and incorporating my Bible Journaling. God has made this my ministry to reach others to come to Him. He gave me the power to step out in faith and do something I’d never even considered.
Just as Joshua and Caleb were given strength to wage war against the giants in the Promised Land and defeat them, when we place our hope in the Lord, He gives us strength and power to do the impossible. God calls us to do the impossible sometimes. Sometimes He calls us to do what we don’t think we can do. But as we place our hope and trust in Him, He becomes our shield, our protector, our “high tower!” (Psalm 18:2) We gain strength from Him to do what He calls us to do, and as we step out in faith to accomplish what He has called us to, hope builds in us. We can say without a shadow of a doubt, “I can do all things through Christ that strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13 KJV) Today, place your hope in God and let Him be your shield!
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