Comfort For Those Who Hurt预览

Hope Brings Security

Feelings of insecurity creep into my thinking when my hope fades. I feel insecure with finances when there seems to be no hope for future provision. I feel insecure with relationships when there seems to be no hope for reconciliation. I feel insecure with problems when there seems to be no hope for solutions. I feel insecure with my hurting heart when there seems to be no hope for healing. Insecurity follows hopelessness. Thus, I am not scared when I am hopeful in my heavenly Father’s practical wisdom; instead, I am secure in His loving provision. Hope provides security.

Job was on the verge of hopelessness. Having lost his family and his material wealth, he wondered what could be worse. Then to make matters worse, his friends offered little comfort, only a critique of how he needed to change and make things right with God. Fortunately, Job’s faith remained in the Lord. He kept his gaze fixed on God above and only glanced at his tumultuous circumstances below. Security in our Savior keeps us from being scared. (Proverbs 3:24)

Are you facing an unsettling situation that promotes fear-induced insecurity? Fear can easily imagine the worst-case scenario. You become frantic over what-if outcomes, to the point that your fears become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When your soul is spiraling downward, intentionally spend time with hopeful people. The company of misery will only compound your insecurities. As you would with good medicine, inject hope into your soul, and security will spring to life. 

Moreover, a secure soul makes a point to see its imperfections as necessary on the canvas of Christ’s creation. What we see in the present is only a partial portrait of what the Spirit is painting for the future. So we rest secure, knowing we are in the safe confines of our Savior’s studio of sanctification. Developing into the likeness of Jesus is a messy but profitable process. God is our unchanging hope. He is our dependable rock of security. We rest in Christ – secure, not scared. (Hebrews 6:18-20)