Hope Is Here Devotional | Day Four
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- Published: Saturday, 16 December 2023 16:00
One of my favourite verses in the whole Bible comes from Jesus’ birth narrative in Matthew’s Gospel, words that we hear regularly at Christmas time. The story of Jesus’ birth is admittedly quite strange. Mary was pregnant, yet still a virgin; a baby conceived “from the Holy Spirit” (as Matthew says) rather than naturally; and a disappointed husband-to-be having it all explained to him by an angel in a dream! And another thing that’s strange is that neither Mary nor Joseph are to name the baby. The name comes from the angel: “You shall call His name Jesus.”
Hope Is Here Devotional | Day Three
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- Published: Friday, 15 December 2023 16:00
The cost of living crisis. COVID-19. Global warming. War. Flash flooding. Traffic collisions. Cancer. Shootings.
The world is filled with immense pain and suffering. Every single day our TVs, phones, and colleagues inform us of the next bit of bad news. Nobody can escape it. It’s everywhere.
How could there be any sort of good, or hope, in the midst of all the pain?
Jeremiah, a prophet who we read about in the Bible, knew all about this. Jerusalem had just been destroyed by the Babylonians, and Jeremiah was heartbroken. With the city in ruins, the temple destroyed, and many people displaced or sold into slavery, we see Jeremiah’s immense grief described in the book of Lamentations, as he wept continually and considered all that had been lost (1:16-17).
Hope Is Here Devotional | Day Two
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- Published: Thursday, 14 December 2023 16:00
When I was 16 years old, I was involved in a ‘street reach’ event in Moira. My church, along with three other churches in the area, would spend the week serving the community in whatever way we could. One of those ways was by forming a choir that would visit the local care homes to sing for the residents, which was an absolute delight.
One song that was chosen for the choir to sing, and this was the first time I’d ever heard it, was ‘My Troubled Soul’ by Philippa Hanna. It has stuck with me and has frequently ‘popped’ into my head when I really needed its sweet words. It’s a song based on Psalm 42:5; “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”
Hope Is Here Devotional | Day One
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- Published: Wednesday, 13 December 2023 16:00
“Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Genesis 18:25 (ESV)
The verse that I have chosen is, admittedly, not one that immediately jumps to the forefront of most people’s minds when they think about hope. And yet, this verse reminds us that above all that happens in this world – from major atrocities, terrorism and crime, to lies, lust and much more besides – there is a Judge who will ensure that justice is done. ‘Long runs the fox’, goes the phrase, but even the fox passes away.