Hope In God’s Promises - The One Year Salt and Light Devotional

Psalm 105:16-22

Until what he had said came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him. (Psalm 105:19, ESV)

JOSEPH COULD HAVE DESPAIRED. He had God-given dreams of glory, of being used for God’s purposes in unusual and powerful ways. But as soon as he voiced those dreams to his brothers, every step he took seemed to go in the opposite direction of God’s promise. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery; his Egyptian master had him imprisoned under false accusations; his one link to the outside world forgot him. He could have wallowed in disillusionment or disappointment. He could have assumed he had forfeited the promise and beat himself up for broadcasting it. He could have feared that God had forgotten him. But every step he took away from the promise actually brought him closer to it. After much time, in the course of a single day, he was elevated into a position of power and influence. God fulfilled what he had said.

We have promises from God too, but we often assume that they come with fine print, that the conditions are greater than the promise. When we are faced with delays and silences from God, we begin to despair. We start to wonder if God meant what he said. Joseph could have entertained such thoughts, but his story doesn’t say so. Abraham and Sarah did; their promise seemed forever in the future and impossibly out of reach. David did as well; years of exile and several psalms of desperation came before he secured the throne. The gap between promise and fulfillment stretches us, tests us, and redefines our understanding of hope.

When we speak the language of hope, disappointment loses its power and promises become certain. We are called to live with expectation, even if it means looking like fools for a time. We have to understand our role. Ours are the only audible voices heaven can use to tell a disappointed world that there is a God who keeps his promises and that those who believe him will see them fulfilled. If we don’t express the realities of God’s Kingdom, no one will. Never let disappointment take root in your heart, even if it passes through for a time. You and your world need the reality of a God who makes promises and keeps them.

{Lord, your ways are often hard to understand, and your timing tests me. Even so, may I see the reality behind my disappointments. You have stored up only good for me and all who seek you. May my words never express anything less. Amen.