August 25

Ezekiel 26:15-28:26; 2 Kings 25:3-7; Jeremiah 52:6-11; Jeremiah 39:2-10

What do you do when your circumstances seem hopeless? The Israelites found themselves in a state of complete hopelessness in our reading today. Babylon surrounded their walls and "the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat" (2 Kings 25:3). We are not talking about inflation prices, we are talking about no food at all! It might have been nice to hear about the future judgment which God was going to bring on their enemies (Tyre, Sidon etc.), but that was not going to change their present circumstances.

Yet despite their abysmal circumstances that would soon include exile, there was still hope because of the promises of God. In Ezekiel 28:25-26, God promises his people will be returned to the land and will live in abundance again. This promise is ultimately just a shadow of the greater promise that we will one day live with God again on a new earth. So no matter how desperate or hopeless our present may seem to be, we can always find hope because of our future.

Father God, help me to cling to the hope I have in you. Help me to be able to see beyond my present and into the future you have prepared for me. Amen. 

To what promises of God can you cling when your circumstances seem hopeless?

No Comments