LET HOPE REMAIN

“And he said, About this season,
according to the time of life,
thou shalt embrace a son”
II KINGS 4:16

Opportunities for enlargement are often shrouded in the dark clouds of obscurity and silence. What seems to be a dead end and a place of helplessness is often the very gateway into the Glory of God. While men linger in resignation, God waits in expectation.

In the story presented here in II Kings there is an unfolding of a relationship between a prophet of God and a kind woman who provided a place for him and his servant to stay as they passed through from time to time. Her motive was right and she did not expect anything in return. She was simply accommodating a servant of God. After some time it came to Elisha to bless her for the kindness shown and in which the revelation of her barrenness came to light. Her husband was old and the desire for a child must have been a strong cry within her heart. Upon discovering Elisha spoke that living word of promise that she would embrace a child much to her own disbelief. The hope of such a thing had long passed as her circumstances dictated otherwise. The years of fading hope had succumbed to the defacto of her experience. The cry for fruitfulness had been quenched and subdued to the point of a pragmatic outlook on life. It is in such places and such times that God will send the opportunity for His Grace to find us if we will simply remain open to the appointment afforded us; one that is wrapped up in the “everydayness” of life and clothed in the simple outworking of our lives.

The promise of this son, given by a living word, would in itself be a testimony to us who should believe hereafter of THE SON being brought forth in the power and REALITY of our lives. It is incumbent upon us to remain open to the opportunities around us and not allow the experiences of life to harden our hearts nor shrink the world in which we live. It is a day to lift up our eyes “unto the hills” and to ever live with an expectancy of His moving afresh in our lives. The power of a living HOPE chases away the seeming treadmill of our existence. It lifts our eyes from the dusty footsteps of our path unto the horizon where the “Sun of Righteousness” is arising with healing in His wings. The dark night of sorrow and the dim grey shadows of a lifeless dawn must and will give way to HIS ARISING. May we live in the knowledge of HIS Character and not give way to a religious existence of doctrine, rote and tradition. Let us remember that He who has promised cannot lie and the desire to bear fruit out of our own lives is the result of HIS planting and HIS promises.

“Trust in the LORD, and do good;
so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Delight thyself also in the LORD;
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy way unto the LORD;
trust also in him;
and he shall bring it to pass”
PSALM 3 7:3- 5