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Hope-Filled Descriptions
Have you ever noticed how the Bible is full of mini-descriptions wonderful descriptions-of God? These are some of my favorites:
"The One who lifts up my head" (Psalm 3:3).
There are so many reasons for a head to be downcast-pain, grief, shame, weariness, discouragement, depression ... Yet in this verse I can almost see the Lord placing His hand on the chin of His child, and gently lifting it as He lovingly says, "It will not always be this way. Look at Me. There is hope. A glorious future awaits you because I have made it possible. Just keep your eyes on Me."
"The God who ... calls things that are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17).
God called Abram "Abraham," the father of many nations, at a time when he was so old he couldn't naturally expect to have a single child. And when Jesus saw Peter for the first time, He called him "Cephas," rock. I wonder if Peter was flattered by the name. After all, he believed himself to be strong. Yet all it took to get this boisterous, burly fisherman to deny his Lord was a servant girl. It was then that Peter discovered just how weak he really was. It was grace that transformed these men into what they couldn't be on their own.
When the Lord looks at you and me, He calls us "Holy. Blameless." And because He called Abraham and Cephas before they were, I know that the time is coming when every thought, every intent of the heart, every action of ours will be holy, completely in tune with the will of our Father ... It may not happen on this earth, but it will happen ... Because He made it possible. I can't wait!
Aren't you glad our God truly is, "The God of hope" (Romans 15:13)?
-Maria Lund