18 THERE IS SURELY A FUTURE HOPE FOR YOU,
AND YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF. Proverbs 23
After two blogs from 2 Kings 5 last Thursday & Friday it was interesting to hear an address on Gehazi yesterday. He took the reward Elisha refused; he wouldn’t wait and his whole family line was cursed. Elisha pronounced God’s judgement on him because he’d taken for himself from what God had done.
Saying 15
17 DO NOT LET YOUR HEART ENVY SINNERS,
BUT ALWAYS BE ZEALOUS FOR THE FEAR OF THE LORD.
18 There is surely a FUTURE HOPE FOR YOU,
and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23
Our Future Hope may well depend upon stopping our hearts from envying ‘desirable things belonging to someone else’ and remembering the Fear of the Lord.
Saying 26
13 Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
14 Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul:
if you find it, THERE IS A FUTURE HOPE FOR YOU,
AND YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF. Proverbs 24
God is not the one making our lives bitter, He tells us hear to EAT HONEY which is SWEET TO OUR TASTE AND WISDOM IS THE SAME TO OUR SOUL. I have blogged before on Honey being sweet for us. Why would God have even allowed honey in creation if He didn’t want us to enjoy it? God wants us to have sweetness in our lives, but religion and the devil don’t.
In both these scriptures in Proverbs 23 & 24 God also tells us ‘YOUR HOPE WILL NOT BE CUT OFF’. That would be a good confession and prayer, Lord don’t allow our Hope to be cut off, protect all that You have for us. Help us to to find Your wisdom and walk in that Lord – the sweet way for us.
11 For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future (filled with hope). 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29
We said in last Thursday’s blog that Naaman ‘didn’t get it right first time’, he lost his temper because Elisha didn’t come out to him. Later he listened to those with him and humbled himself and dipped seven times in the Jordan river. Naaman then believed in the God of Israel as the only God, humbling himself brought greater blessings even, than his healing.
Israel in the days of Jeremiah had gone very far from their God and their land, BUT GOD promised that He hadn’t deserted them and still had a Hope and a Future for them. We may feel today that we’ve gone far from God and we don’t know His Plan for our lives, but if we’ll turn, just like Naaman He’ll make sure we find our path again. We’re never beyond the God’s reach and He wants the best for us, always.
God bless and keep you today.