Find Hope @ The Hem
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    • Do things seem hopeless?

      Posted at 4:00 am by sneuhofer, on February 22, 2021

      When circumstances appear hopeless, God keeps his promises.

      Abram (Abraham) was 75 years old when God told him to “leave his country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land I will show you (Gen 12: 1).” God continued to tell Abraham that He would make him a great nation from his family. Abram obeyed God and left the comforts of his homeland for an unknown destination.

      I wonder if the words “I will make a great nation from your family” were mulled around in the back of his head as he headed out. You see at the time, Abraham had no biological children as his wife Sarai (Sarah) was barren. Yet…Abram stepped out in faith and didn’t question God.

      Fast forward a few years. I wonder if Abraham assumes God will fulfill His promise of making a great nation from his family through his slave Eliezer because he and Sarah are still childless. This story is told in Genesis 15: 1-6 where the Lord appears to Abraham in a vision:

      “Abram, don’t be afraid. I will defend you, and I will give you a great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what can you give me? I have no son, so my slave Eliezer from Damascus will get everything I own after I die.” Abram said, “Look, you have given me no son, so a slave born in my house will inherit everything I have.” Then the Lord spoke his word to Abram: “He will not be the one to inherit what you have. You will have a son of your own who will inherit what you have.” Then God led Abram outside and said, “Look at the sky. There are so many stars you cannot count them. Your descendants also will be too many to count.” Abram believed the Lord. And the Lord accepted Abram’s faith, and that faith made him right with God. [emphasis mine]”

      God promises Abraham descendants too many to count but the circumstances haven’t changed a bit…Abraham and Sarah are still advanced in years and childless. Perhaps a few more years pass, I don’t know the Bible doesn’t tell us…but Sarah decides to take matters into her own hands and gives her slave girl, Hagar, to Abraham (Genesis 16:1-3). Although this was customary in their day it still showed a lack of faith in God to do what He promised He would do.

      Have you ever taken matters into your own hands and gotten ahead of God? Perhaps you take a look at the circumstances surrounding you and think “maybe I should step in and do…something.”

      I sure have and boy… did I make a mess of things. By taking things into my own hands and “taking care of business” in my own strength and timing, it showed God that I had a complete lack of faith and willingness to allow Him to work in His.

      Go ahead… you can say it…  it’s nothing I haven’t said to myself at least 100 times. OUCH! Right?

      What I have to remember is God always keeps his promises…it may take a lot longer than I would like, but He is faithful….and His timing is always right on time.

      Lamentations 3:21 – 26 (GW) “The reason I can still find hope is that I keep this one thing in mind: the Lord’s mercy. We were not completely wiped out. His compassion is never limited. It is new every morning. His faithfulness is great. My soul can say, ‘The Lord is my lot in life. That is why I find hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to anyone who seeks help from him. “It is good to continue to hope and wait silently for the Lord to save us.”

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      Posted in God's faithfulness, God's promises | 0 Comments
    • God Can Use Anything to Make a Point

      Posted at 4:40 pm by sneuhofer, on January 21, 2021

      Isaiah 43:2 (NRSV) When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.

      Last night I was cutting up a few slices of ham to include with scalloped potatoes for dinner. I cut too much and, well, because my dogs were underfoot, I took a piece and dropped it on the floor. My dachshund immediately scooped up the piece I had and began to eat. My black lab (puppy) just watched. I wondered, at that moment, if she expected my dachshund to share or if she was secretly plotting to steal the ham away some how. I’m not sure…but if she would have only looked up at me, she would have noticed that I had a bigger bite-size piece for her. But she never looked up….she just focused on the other dog’s treat.

      As I watched this little exchange take place, I heard God’s still, small voice say “If you would only look at me instead of your circumstances you wouldn’t drive yourself so crazy.”

      OUCH!

      Ok, so, don’t you love it when God gives you a real-time example? My puppy’s focus wasn’t on me at all…it was on what she couldn’t control. God was using this situation to show me what I had been doing over the past few weeks. I had allowed the circumstances in my life to overwhelm me. When things get like that…it’s up to me to ask myself a little question:

      “Have I looked to Christ at all to get me through the storm of my current circumstances?”

      My answer, “NOPE…not at all.” The truth was really easy to see once I took the focus off of what was going on. My attention was clearly set on my circumstance. Because of this, I got distracted and so spun up that my fear and anxiety took over and rendered me helpless and unable to breathe.  Believe me, this is one character flaw I am trying to fix…but…change is hard.

      From the moment I saw how I had been relying on myself to “help me get through” my circumstances, I cried out to God.

      “Father forgive me! Help me to keep my focus squarely on you. Help me to look to you for answers and not rely on what I can only see with my eyes. I know you are beside me every step of the way – forgive me for failing to see that.”

      I must remember, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in this world that can separate me from the love of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:28)

      Three things I know for certain…

      1 – God loves me with an everlasting love (His love is without condition) Jerimiah 31:3

      2 – He will never leave me nor forsake me (Deut. 31:8) – He is with me wherever I go (Ex. 33:14)

      3 – He is not shocked or surprised by anything that happens because He is God and sees everything (Prov. 5:21, Job 34:21)

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      Posted in doubt, God's faithfulness | 0 Comments
    • What is beyond your ability to believe?

      Posted at 7:00 am by sneuhofer, on June 6, 2018

      Hebrews 10:23 (NIV) Let us hold unswervingly [emphasis mine] to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.

      In 2 Kings 4:8 – 34 we are introduced to a wealthy Shunammite woman who was generous and hospitable to the prophet, Elisha. We are told in 2 Kings 4:8 that Elisha would stop at her house and enjoy a meal every time he passed through town. One day the woman talked with her husband and they agreed to add a room onto their house for Elisha to stay in while travelling.

      Elisha recognized her kindness and wanted to put in a good word for her with the King or the Commander of the Army. But the Shunammite woman wasn’t looking for favor. She was content to live around her family and friends. Elisha wanted to bless her for her hospitality. So while talking with his servant, Gehazi, Elisha learned that the woman and her aging husband were childless. So Elisha called for the woman and promised her that by the same time next year, she would hold a son in her arms.

      Like Sarah, she reacted in disbelief (Gen. 18:10-15) as she objected asking Elisha not to mislead her. Yet, a year later, she held a son in her arms. What a surprising gift! Unlike other barren women we read about through scripture (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah) this women carried the desire for a child in her heart (Psalm 37:4). She wasn’t angry or bitter because life hadn’t exactly turned out the way she planned. She simply continued to serve the Lord and his people and God rewarded her for her faithfulness.

      A few years later the boy fell ill (with a severe headache) while visiting his father in the fields. One of the servants brought the boy to his mother and she held him close to her until he died at noon. Without saying a word, she laid the boy on Elisha’s bed and left immediately for Mt. Carmel in hopes of finding Elisha.

      The women traveled 25 miles to get to Elisha. When she saw Gehazi approaching her she was kind to him yet it was Elisha she wanted to see. Distressed she spoke to Elisha directly “Did I ask you for a son? Did I not say, Do not mislead me?” (v. 29) Immediately Elisha gave Gehazi his staff and commanded him to run and not talk to anyone along the way. When he arrived at the house, Elisha commanded Gehazi to lay the staff on on the boy’s face.

      Gehazi left, however the woman didn’t want the servant…she wanted Elisha. Elisha and the women hurried to Shunem to see the boy. When Elisha got there the boy’s lifeless body lay in his bed.  Closing the door behind him, Elisha stretched out his body across the boy so that their hands, mouths and eyes touched and began to pray. He could feel the cold body begin to warm. Elisha got up and began to walk around the room. After a short time passed, he stretched out his body one more time, began to pray and the boy’s chest lifted. Then he sneezed. The boy was alive.

      Even in the face of impossible circumstances, God kept His promise. The woman held unswervingly to the promise of God.

      So what promise from God are you unswervingly holding on to even through everything you see seems impossible? Leave me a comment below and I will  agree with you in prayer for the promise that you are holding on to.

      My prayer today is that we will look beyond the circumstance and focus on Almighty God who ALWAYS keeps His promises.

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      Posted in God's faithfulness, trusting God | 0 Comments
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