The Valley of the Shadow of Death Hope

The Valley of the Shadow of Death

Hope

Finding hope in the dark is not easy

Hope is something best obtained before you need it

The person who knows their roof will not last forever and saves for that day

Will not worry like the person who makes no preparation

So how do we prepare?

Our hope needs to be sure, steadfast, unmovable

We need to have confidence in our hope

That means our hope must be more than wishful thinking

Our hope must be based on facts and truth

Hope

Proverbs 13:12…

Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.

There is nothing more important to life than hope.

Every one of us knows the sick feeling of losing hope.

Hope keeps us off antidepressants.

When we lose hope, our minds and bodies

go into shock as our somatic turns.

Our walk through life will have valleys…

Low times where shadows of death darken our path.

The darkness comes as something is

seemingly being taken away from us.

The shadows come in all sizes and some are

very dark and long like the long winter nights.

There is only one thing that can get

us through the shadows of death.

That one thing is hope.

Finding hope in the dark is not easy.

Hope is something best obtained before you need it.

The person who knows their roof will not last

forever and saves for that day will not worry

like the person who makes no preparation.

So how do we prepare?

Our hope needs to be sure, steadfast, unmovable.

We need to have confidence in our hope.

That means our hope must be

more than wishful thinking.

Our hope must be based on facts and truth.

In the Book of Hebrews, it tells us of

a hope that is like an anchor.

It is actually an anchor to our soul.

We can find security in this anchor because

God cannot lie and Jesus has gone beyond

the curtain of death into the Holy Place…

Heaven, His throne.

We see this place called heaven

for all who believe in Him.

We are all appointed to die and then face judgment.

The hope that is anchored in God will keep our soul.

Remember that an anchor is not tied to the boat.

There is a rope between the boat and the anchor.

Our anchor is in heaven, secure in Christ.

The rope we hang on to is long and in

the storms we can be tossed around.

But the one who does not let go…

The one who is confident that the anchor will hold…

Will be at peace, like Jesus who slept in the boat

while the storm put fear in the disciples.

 One of the gifts of God is eternal life.

Another gift He gave His disciples at the time

just before His death was the gift of peace.

Jesus said… “Peace I leave with you.”

Don’t get sick in the valley of the shadow of death.

Put your hope in God.

That is the charge David gave

his soul when his soul was sick…

Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and  my God.

Psalm 42:5

Scripture Reading  

Hebrews 6:17-20 NIV

17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Psalm 42:5-6 NIV

5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?

Why so disturbed within me?

Put your hope in God,

for I will yet praise him,

my Savior and 6 my God.