Hope Must Be Shared
Friday’s Verse:
From Habakkuk 2:2 ESV
“And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.’”
When the prophet Habakkuk lived, there was darkness. Violence surrounded God’s people. Questions filled the air, and answers seemed to elude them. In response to their cries, instead of quick salvation, the Lord instructed Habakkuk to write. The vision will be clear, fixed, and plain for all to see. God’s people would return to His Word again and again when hope seemed scarce.
In that way, God still directs His people today. Hope in a congregation does not spring forth from positive preaching or fuzzy feelings. It comes from reading, seeing, and clinging to what God has already promised. When the vision is written black and white, when Christ and the promises of God are preached and taught plainly, the congregation has a foothold.
Hope matters for the life of the church because no one shows up who does not need hope. Someone sits in grief. Another wrings their hands over guilt. Someone fears what tomorrow will bring for their children. A congregation empowered by hope does not ignore these things. Instead, it casts these worries on the promise of God. Week after week, we read His Word. We preach it. We sing it. We receive it so that our faith may be sure and steady, rooted in what the Lord says, not in how we feel.
When God instructed Habakkuk to write, He knew that hope would not keep if it were hidden. He had envisioned a people who run to the words as they are read. Likewise, God works through congregations empowered by hope. We become a people who send others away strengthened. We speak forgiveness plainly. We remind each other that Christ is coming and He is the center of our hope.
The Lord still hears His people. He still plainly gives His promises to His people. And by that Word, He sustains hope in us until that day when the vision comes in full in Christ.
✝️ A Prayer for Today:
Almighty Father, ground hope in the future of the church into my heart today. Give me a strong outlook to worship You and love others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Apostles’ Creed:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
The Lord’s Prayer:
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven; give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Luther’s Morning Prayer:
I thank You, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.
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