Hope

Certainty in an Uncertain World

By Mark A. Finley

If you could choose a single word to describe the mindset of this generation, what would it be? I would choose the word uncertainty. More people seem uncertain about the future than ever before. They are uncertain whether some senseless terrorist attack or hostile nation will suddenly snuff out their lives. They are uncertain about whether we will suddenly be wiped off the face of the earth by nuclear war, or whether global warming will destroy us first.

For millions this sense of uncertainty is extremely personal. They are uncertain where their next meal is coming from or where they will sleep tonight. People are uncertain about their health, their marriages, and their future. Deep within the fabric of their beings, down inside where it really counts, they feel troubled about what might happen next. They have a sense of unease about what is coming on this world. They are seriously concerned about what kind of world their children will grow up in and where society is headed.

Moral principles once taken for granted are being seriously questioned today. The moral foundation of society appears to be crumbling. Very little is certain. Many have lost hope in a bright tomorrow and a positive future. Someone has said, “You can live days without food, hours without water, minutes without air, but no time at all without hope.”

Desperate People Do Desperate Things

The general unrest in our society, this inner sense that something is not right and little seems certain, this fear about the future, has created a sense of hopelessness. This hopelessness has led millions to experience major depression, which affects 20 percent of the world’s population at some point in their lives. The World Health Organization predicts that by 2020, depression will rival heart disease as the health disorder with the highest disease burden in the world. One person dies by suicide approximately every 40 seconds somewhere in the world, and global suicide rates have increased 60% in the past 45 years.

Antidepressants produce around $6 billion in worldwide sales annually. In the United States alone, medical professionals fill over 270 million prescriptions for these medications each year. In desperation, many people turn to alcohol, and according to the World Health Organization, about 140 million people throughout the world suffer from alcohol-related disorders.  

Hope Makes a Difference

When we lose hope, dark clouds of despair hang over our heads. The future appears gloomy and uncertain. But hope leads us from what is to what can be. Hope paints tomorrow in bright colors. It lifts our spirits from the mud below to the heavens above. William Shakespeare wrote, “The miserable have no other medicine, but only hope.” 

Hope is not some vague longing for a better future. Hope is not baseless desire lacking real certainty or assurance. The ancient scriptures present hope as a strong, confident expectation based on the unchangeable promises of God. The apostle Paul, writing in the Bible book of Romans, states that “whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).

The promises of God reveal hope for today, tomorrow, and forever. They speak with certainty in an uncertain world. They speak hope to our troubled minds and peace to our anxious spirits.  

The Bible reveals that God created each one of us in His image, and He longs for us to live joyful, abundant lives (Genesis 1:27; John 10:10). We are His special possession. He promises to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5, 6).

Although we face challenges and life might not go as we planned or desired, the promises of God are sure. The ancient prophet Isaiah gives us this assurance: “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” (Isaiah 26:3). The prophet continues with these words of encouragement: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). 

Our happiness is not based on the illusionary idea that nothing bad will ever happen to us, or the mythical dream that each day is brighter than the day before. In reality bad things do often happen to good people.

We live in a broken world. Sickness, suffering, poverty, and disease afflict both the righteous and the unrighteous. But here is the difference: those who put their faith in God are filled with hope. We anchor our hope in a God who will never let us down (Hebrews 6:18). Hope is rooted in a God who suffers with us in our trials and difficulties (Isaiah 63:9). It has as its foundation a Christ who once lived in human flesh, who understands us and strengthens us in all our trials (Hebrews 4:15). He identifies with us in our tears. He came to provide us with the hope of a better tomorrow. Through Christ the gift of eternal life is ours (John 3:16). He is our hope (1 Timothy 1:1). By faith, as we grasp the gift of eternal life that He so freely offers, we look beyond the problems of this life to the eternal fellowship and everlasting joy that He graciously offers us.

Hope’s Two Great Events

The entire Bible focuses on two great events—the first and second coming of Christ. He came once to redeem us from the guilt, condemnation, and consequences of sin. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). He will come again to deliver us from the presence of sin. One day Jesus will return in glory to take us home. He declared, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:1-3).

Today let your heart be filled with hope. One day soon Jesus will come and end the heartaches and trials. The challenges and difficulties of life will be over, and we will live with Him forever. In an uncertain world, His promises are sure. Why not right now bow your head and thank Him for His wonderful promises, praying this simple prayer? 

Dear Jesus,

Just now I open my heart to You. Fill me with a sense of certainty that Your promises are true. Help me grasp them personally and live in the hope of salvation through Jesus Christ and the assurance that You are with me daily to strengthen and encourage me. By faith I believe I can live with a heart filled with hope, confident that one day soon You are coming to take me home to joyfully live with You forever. 

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Power

Feeling Our Spiritual Need

And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Luke 18:13.

We should be often in prayer. The outpouring of the Spirit of God came in answer to earnest prayer. But mark this fact concerning the disciples. The record says, “They were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:1-4).

They were not assembled to relate tidbits of scandal. They were not seeking to expose every stain they could find on a brother’s character. They felt their spiritual need, and cried to the Lord for the holy unction to help them in overcoming their own infirmities, and to fit them for the work of saving others. They prayed with intense earnestness that the love of Christ might be shed abroad in their hearts.

This is our great need today in every church in our land. For “if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That which was objectionable in the character is purified from the soul by the love of Jesus. All selfishness is expelled, all envy, all evil-speaking, is rooted out, and a radical transformation is wrought in the heart. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22, 23). “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace” (James 3:18).

Paul says that “as touching the law”—as far as outward acts were concerned—he was “blameless,” but when the spiritual character of the law was discerned, when he looked into the holy mirror, he saw himself a sinner. Judged by a human standard, he had abstained from sin, but when he looked into the depths of God’s law, and saw himself as God saw him, he bowed in humiliation, and confessed his guilt.—The Review and Herald, July 22, 1890. 

From The Devotional Ye Shall Receive Power

Elijah

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21.

Among the mountains of Gilead, east of the Jordan, there dwelt in the days of Ahab a man of faith and prayer whose fearless ministry was destined to check the rapid spread of apostasy in Israel. Far removed from any city of renown, and occupying no high station in life, Elijah the Tishbite nevertheless entered upon his mission confident in God’s purpose to prepare the way before him and to give him abundant success. The word of faith and power was upon his lips, and his whole life was devoted to the work of reform. His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil. And while he came to the people as a reprover of sin, his message offered the balm of Gilead to the sin-sick souls of all who desired to be healed.

As Elijah saw Israel going deeper and deeper into idolatry, his soul was distressed and his indignation aroused. God had done great things for His people. He had delivered them from bondage and given them “the lands of the heathen: ... that they might observe his statutes, and keep his laws” (Psalm 105:44, 45). But the beneficent designs of Jehovah were now well-nigh forgotten. Unbelief was fast separating the chosen nation from the Source of their strength.

Viewing this apostasy from his mountain retreat, Elijah was overwhelmed with sorrow. In anguish of soul he besought God to arrest the once-favored people in their wicked course, to visit them with judgments, if need be, that they might be led to see in its true light their departure from Heaven. He longed to see them brought to repentance before they should go to such lengths in evil-doing as to provoke the Lord to destroy them utterly.—Prophets and Kings, 119, 120. 

From the devotional Ye Shall Receive Power

Noah

And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. Genesis 7:1.

In the days of Noah, the wickedness of the world became so great that God could no longer bear with it; and He said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth” (Genesis 6:7). But He pitied the race, and in His love provided a refuge for all who would accept it. He gave the message to Noah to be given to the people: “My spirit shall not always strive with man” (verse 3).

Noah was directed to build an ark, and at the same time to preach that God would bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy the wicked. Those who would believe the message, and would prepare for that event by repentance and reformation, should find pardon and be saved; but a continued resistance of the entreaties and warnings from God through His servant Noah would separate them from God, and as a result infinite mercy and love would cease its pleadings.

The Spirit of God continued to strive with rebellious man until the time specified had nearly expired, when Noah and his family entered the ark, and the hand of God closed its door. Mercy had stepped from the golden throne, no longer to intercede for the guilty sinner.

All the men of that generation were not in the fullest sense of the term heathen idolaters. Many had a knowledge of God and His law; but they not only rejected the message of the faithful preacher of righteousness themselves, but used all their influence to prevent others from being obedient to God. To everyone comes a day of trial and of trust. That generation had their day of opportunity and privilege while Noah was sounding the note of warning of the coming destruction; but they yielded their minds to the control of Satan rather than of God, and he deceived them, as he did our first parents. He set before them darkness and falsehood in the place of light and truth; and they accepted his sophistry and lies, because they were acceptable to them, and in harmony with their corrupt lives, while truth that would have saved them was rejected as a delusion.—The Signs of the Times, April 1, 1886. 

From Ye Shall Receive Power Devotional

September 2016

Empowered by the Spirit

Enoch

By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. Hebrews 11:5.

Enoch was a public teacher of the truth in the age in which he lived. He taught the truth; he lived the truth; and the character of the teacher who walked with God was in every way harmonious with the greatness and sacredness of his mission. Enoch was a prophet who spake as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. He was a light amid the moral darkness, a pattern man, a man who walked with God, being obedient to God’s law—that law which Satan had refused to obey, which Adam had transgressed, which Abel obeyed, and because of his obedience was murdered.

And now God would demonstrate to the universe the falsity of Satan’s charge that man cannot keep God’s law. He would demonstrate that though man had sinned, he could so relate himself to God that he would have the mind and Spirit of God and would be a representative symbol of Christ. This holy man was selected of God to denounce the wickedness of the world, and to evidence to the world that it is possible for men to keep all the law of God....

Enoch not only meditated and prayed, and put on the armor of watchfulness, but he came forth from his pleadings with God to plead with his fellow men. He did not mask the truth to find favor with unbelievers, thus neglecting their souls. This close connection with God gave him courage to work the works of God. Enoch walked with God and “had this testimony that his ways pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5).

This is the privilege of every believer today. It is man dwelling with God, and God taking up His abode with man. “I in them, and thou in me” (John 17:23), says Jesus. To walk with God and have the witness that their ways please Him is an experience not to be confined to Enoch, to Elijah, to patriarchs, to prophets, to apostles, and to martyrs. It is not only the privilege but the duty of every follower of Christ to have Jesus enshrined in the heart, to carry Him with them in their lives; and they will indeed be fruit-bearing trees.—The Upward Look, 228. 

From the devotional - Ye Shall Receive Power

Directions for the Youth

In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:6.

There are great things expected from the sons and daughters of God. I look upon the youth of today, and my heart yearns over them. What possibilities are open before them! If they sincerely seek to learn of Christ, He will give them wisdom, as He gave wisdom to Daniel. They may obtain directions from Him who is mighty in counsel. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Psalm 111:10). Says the psalmist, “The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple” (Psalm 119:130). And the wise man writes, “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”

Let the youth try to appreciate the privilege that may be theirs, to be directed by the unerring wisdom of God. Let them take the Word of truth as the man of their counsel, and become skillful in the use of “the sword of the Spirit.” Satan is a wise general; but the humble, devoted soldier of Jesus Christ may overcome him. It is written of the victors, that “they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony” (Revelation 12:11).

We must not trust in self. Our finite strength is only weakness. Says Jesus, “Without me ye can do nothing”; but He promises, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:5, 7).

It is thought a great honor to be invited into the presence of a king of this earth. But let us consider the amazing privilege that is proffered to us. If we obey the requirements of God, we may become the sons and daughters of the King of the universe. Through a crucified and risen Saviour, we may be filled with the fruits of righteousness, and be fitted to shine in the courts of the King of kings through unending ages.... Our work is to seek the closest union with the Son of God, to learn in His school, to become meek and lowly of heart, to work the works of Christ, advancing His kingdom and hastening His coming.—The Review and Herald, February 28, 1888. 

Ye Shall Receive Power - EGW Devotional

True Miracles Will Happen Again

Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. Revelation 14:12.

The great work of the gospel is not to close with less manifestation of the power of God than marked its opening. The prophecies which were fulfilled in the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel are again to be fulfilled in the latter rain at its close. Here are “the times of refreshing” to which the apostle Peter looked forward when he said: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you” (Acts 3:19, 20).

Servants of God, with their faces lighted up and shining with holy consecration, will hasten from place to place to proclaim the message from heaven. By thousands of voices, all over the earth, the warning will be given. Miracles will be wrought, the sick will be healed, and signs and wonders will follow the believers. Satan also works, with lying wonders, even bringing down fire from heaven in the sight of men. (Revelation 13:13). Thus the inhabitants of the earth will be brought to take their stand.

The message will be carried not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented. The seed has been sown, and now it will spring up and bear fruit. The publications distributed by missionary workers have exerted their influence, yet many whose minds were impressed have been prevented from fully comprehending the truth or from yielding obedience. Now the rays of light penetrate everywhere, the truth is seen in its clearness, and the honest children of God sever the bands which have held them. Family connections, church relations, are powerless to stay them now. Truth is more precious than all besides. Notwithstanding the agencies combined against the truth, a large number take their stand upon the Lord's side.—The Great Controversy, 611, 612.