HOPE
(Recipe: Fruit and Spinach Salad)

I was conversing with a friend this past week. We were talking about our walk with God. What we have been learning about God. What God seems to be saying to us. Her comment was, “I keep thinking about HOPE. That is a powerful word, and yet a word of mystery.”

As I thought about it, I would have to agree with her. How do you define hope, really? The dictionary defines it this way, “to desire something with confident expectation of its fulfillment.”

Wow! Confidently expecting what I desire to be fulfilled. I was then reminded of Psalm 34:4 which says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.”

Desire means, “to have a longing for; to wish or request.”

I am getting the sense that what I desire and what God desires for me are two different things. God desires me to delight myself in him, long for him, put my hope completely in him. When I do this, everything else seems to fall into place perfectly.

Psalm 130:5, 7 says, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. O Israel, (you could add your name), put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love, and with him is full redemption.”

As I hope in the Lord, I am fully expecting God to love me unfailingly. As I hope in the Lord, I fully expect his full redemption.

Yes, hope in the Lord is a good thing. Psalm 147:11 reminds us, “The Lord DELIGHTS in those who fear him, who put their HOPE in his unfailing love.”

And my all-time favorite verse, Isaiah 40:31 – “But those who hope (to desire something with confident expectation of its fulfillment)….those who hope in the Lord WILL
a. renew their strength
b. will soar on wings like eagles
c. will run and not grow weary
d. will walk and not be faint

An old hymn expresses these thoughts on hope well:

The Solid Rock

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;
In every high and stormy gale my anchor holds within the veil.

His oath, His covenant, His blood support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.

When He shall come with trumpet sound, O may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone, Faultless to stand before the throne.

Chorus: On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand,
All other ground is sinking sand.

On what is your hope grounded this morning? On the temporal hope of the world, or on the hope that comes through knowing Jesus, through studying and obeying his Word? If you’re feeling hopeless, open God’s word and let God minister to your heart today; with confidence expect God to turn your hopelessness into hope.

Fruit and Spinach Salad

1 pound fresh spinach, torn
4 cups whole strawberries, sliced
1 11-oz. can mandarin oranges, drained
1 star fruit, sliced

Ginger Dressing:
1/3 cup lemon juice
2 T. olive oil
2 T. sugar
¾ tsp. ginger or 1 T. minced fresh gingerroot
2 tsp. grated lemon peel

Arrange spinach and fruit on salad plate. Mix the dressing well. Drizzle over salad. Serve immediately. Serves 4