hope 90 Devotions from Our Daily BreaD COmpileD By Dave BranOn
2017 by Our Daily Bread Ministries All rights reserved. Discovery House is affiliated with Our Daily Bread Ministries, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Requests for permission to quote from this book should be directed to: Permissions Department, Discovery House, P.O. Box 3566, Grand Rapids, MI 49501, or contact us by e-mail at permissionsdept@dhp.org. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. TM Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc. TM Scripture quotations marked nkjv are from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ISBN: 978-1-62707-660-9 Printed in the United States of America First printing in 2017
CONTENTS Foreword 5 Hopeful Realists 7 Little Lies and Kittens 8 When Morning Comes 9 The Land of What Is 10 His Plan or Ours? 12 When the Woods Wake Up 13 Start Fresh 14 This Could Be the Year 15 Hope Is for... 16 Christ the Redeemer 18 Habits of a Healthy Mind 19 Is There Hope? 20 New Beginnings 21 Singing with Violet 22 Hope in Suffering 24 Quiet Conversations 25 The Anchor of Our Hope 26 The Challenge of Confinement 27 The Best Life 28 Hopeful Praise 30 Hope for Skeptics 31 The Warmth of the Sun 32 Giving It to God 33 Uncertain Times 34 The Best Things in Life 36 The Lighthouse 37 Fast Feet 38 A Living Hope 39 Hope for Worriers 40 Hope Lives 42 Everything Is Beautiful 43 Long-Awaited Reunion 44 Hope for a Mudder 45 Awakened by a Close Friend 46 No Hope but God 48 Sonrise 49 Hope in Him 50 False Hope 51 The Right Information 52 Short-Timers 54 A Little Piece of Heaven 55 Finding Hope 56 So Long 57 A Word to the Weary 58
Seeing to Tomorrow 60 A Second Chance 61 Nothing Left but God 62 Flying Machines 63 The Gift of Welcome 64 Hope that Banishes Hopelessness 66 The Hope of Heaven 67 For the Weary 68 The Hope of the Heart 69 The Heavenly Alternative 70 Our Only Hope 72 The God of Victory 73 Hope for the Blues 74 Victory over Death! 75 Hopes and Dreams 76 Even Her? 78 We Need Hope 79 Seeing God in Familiar Places 80 New Hope 81 Situation Excellent 82 Heartbreak and Hope 84 Longing for Home 85 A Reason for Hope 86 It s in the Word 87 Words for the Weary 88 The Cross and the Crown 90 The Blessed Hope 91 Coming Soon 92 From Bleak to Beautiful 93 Hope in God 94 All Safe! All Well! 96 Hope When the Journey Gets Tough 97 Waiting 98 Can t Die but Once 99 Not Without Hope 100 From Mourning to Dancing 102 The Book of Hope 103 An Amazing Love 104 Let Us... 105 Ripples of Hope 106 Always 108 He Walked in Our Shoes 109 Hope Beyond Hope 110 Such a Hope 111 Rescue from Despair 112 Good News 114 Our Daily Bread Writers 115 Scripture Index of Key Verses 120 Note to the Reader 122
HOPEFUL REALISTS read: micah 7:1 13 I will bear the Lord s wrath... He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness. MICAH 7:9 A humorist wrote, When I was feeling down, someone told me, Cheer up, things could get worse. So I cheered up and they did! Wishing someone a shallow cheer up seldom helps that person s distress. What people long for is reassuring news that life will soon change for the better. During my years as a pastor, though, I often had to tell very ill people that unless the Lord intervened they would soon die. That s hardly cheer up news. In Micah s day, many people in Israel no doubt wanted to hear some good news. The ruthlessness and dishonesty of fellow-citizens, rulers, and even judges were frightening (Micah 7:2 3). The nation was so fractured that people could not even trust their closest friends or relatives (vv. 5 6). The decent citizens hoped the prophet would tell them that a revival was coming to bring positive changes in their land. Instead, he had to tell them that God s judgment was at hand: The Assyrians would soon invade. The outlook was gloomy. But it was not hopeless. Micah saw beyond the judgment to a time when the nation would worship God and be blessed. He was mixing realism with hope. We too can be hopeful realists. With the eye of faith we can see through the hard times and see the eternal glory God has in store for us. Herb Vander Lugt sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but faith looks up. 7
LITTLE LIES AND KITTENS read: romans 5:12 21 Just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God s wonderful grace rules instead. ROMANS 5:21 nlt Mom noticed four-year-old Elias as he scurried away from the newborn kittens. She had told him not to touch them. Did you touch the kitties, Elias? she asked. No! he said earnestly. So Mom had another question: Were they soft? Yes, he volunteered, and the black one mewed. With a toddler, we smile at such duplicity. But Elias s disobedience underscores our human condition. No one has to teach a four-year-old to lie. For I was born a sinner, wrote David in his classic confession, yes, from the moment my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5 nlt). The apostle Paul said: When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned (Romans 5:12 nlt). That depressing news applies equally to kings, fouryear-olds, and you and me. But there s plenty of hope! God s law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were, wrote Paul. But as people sinned more and more, God s wonderful grace became more abundant (Romans 5:20 nlt). God is not waiting for us to blow it so He can pounce on us. He is in the business of grace, forgiveness, and restoration. We need only recognize that our sin is neither cute nor excusable and come to Him in faith and repentance. Tim Gustafson there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. romans 8:1 8
WHEN MORNING COMES read: Hebrews 11:1 8 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. HEBREWS 11:1 It was very late when my husband and I stopped for the night at a country inn outside of Munich, Germany. We were delighted to see that our cozy room had a balcony, although an oppressive fog made it impossible to see into the darkness. But when the sun rose a few hours later, the haze began to fade. Then we could see what had been grimly shrouded the night before a completely idyllic scene peaceful and lush green meadows, sheep grazing with tiny tinkling bells about their necks, and big white clouds in the sky that looked exactly like more sheep huge, fluffy sheep! Sometimes life can get clouded over by a heavy fog of despair. Our situation may look so dark that we begin to lose hope. But just as the sun burns away a fog, our faith in God can burn away the haze of doubt. Hebrews 11 defines faith as confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see (v. 1). The passage goes on to remind us of the faith of Noah, who was warned about things not yet seen, yet obeyed God (v. 7). And it reminds us of Abraham, who went where God directed even though he didn t know where that would be (v. 8). Though we have not seen God and cannot always feel His presence, He is always present and will help us through our darkest nights. Cindy Hess Kasper faith is the radar that sees through the fog. Corrie ten Boom 9
THE LAND OF WHAT IS read: psalm 46:1 7 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13 Even all these years after losing our seventeen-year-old daughter Melissa in a car accident in 2002, I sometimes find myself entering the world of What If. It s easy, in grief, to reimagine the events of that tragic June evening and think of factors that if rearranged would have had Mell arriving safely home. In reality, though, the land of What If is not a good place to be for any of us. It is a place of regret, second-guessing, and hopelessness. While the grief is real and the sadness endures, life is better and God is honored if we dwell in the world of What Is. In that world, we can find hope, encouragement, and comfort. We have the sure hope (1 Thessalonians 4:13) the assurance that because Melissa loved Jesus she is in a place that is better by far (Philippians 1:23). We have the helpful presence of the God of all comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3). We have God s ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46:1). And we often have the encouragement of fellow believers. We all wish to avoid the tragedies of life. But when we do face hard times, our greatest help comes from trusting God, our sure hope in the land of What Is. Dave Branon 10
our greatest hope comes from trusting God. z