September 2
September 2
We find hope not in our ability to cobble together a good life, but rather in the truth that God exercises his power for the good of his people.
Where do you look for your security and hope? Do you look to your ability to put together a good career? To purchase a good house in a good community? To parent children who become successful? To build a satisfying circle of good friends? Do you look for security and hope in the size of your bank account? In your commitment to exercise and live healthy? Where do you look for the “good life”? None of these things are bad to desire or pursue, but they must not be where you look for your deepest security and hope. Despite all your solid intentions and hard work, none of these things are guaranteed to you. You don’t have the power or authority to control all the factors involved in achieving your dreams. Take your job or career, for instance. In order for your job to be stable and your career to grow, you need the world economy to be stable, your industry to remain heathy, your workplace to make wise choices, and your boss to respect and trust you. You control none of these things. You can work diligently, but something outside of your control can suddenly shift, and you can find yourself out of a job.
Because of this, our hearts will rest only when they rest in the truth that God graciously and willingly exercises his infinite power for the good of his children. In a long portion of Scripture in which God pronounces his judgment on the nations surrounding his children, he states that he is judging these nations not only because he is holy and just and will crush evil. He says he is judging those nations also because they have made life hard for his children. God is judging the surrounding nations because he loves his children and will unleash his almighty power for their good: “For the house of Israel there shall be no more a brier to prick or a thorn to hurt them among all their neighbors who have treated them with contempt. Then they will know that I am the Lord God” (Ezek. 28:24). The word picture of the brier and the thorn tells God’s children that he will remove all the things that the surrounding nations have done to hurt his children. God exercises his judgment not only because he is holy and just, but also because he has a tender heart of love for his children and will do for them what they do not have the power to do for themselves.
It is amazing to think that God constantly exercises his power and his rule for the good of his children. Because he can control what is out of our control, lasting hope and security are found in the exercise of his power rather than in our own power. The “good life” is always found in resting in his loving rule on our behalf.