Neville Turley

May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13 (GNB)

Jonah thought the best way to dodge God's call to him, would be to run away and nurse his wounds in Tarshish. In his wildest dreams, Jonah could never have imagined that by running away from God, he would end up being swallowed live in the sea.

It is not the fate one would wish on one's worst enemy. Yet the message from the Bible is clear. Disobeying God plunges us into situations from which only our Heavenly Father can rescue us.

Bad times are part and parcel of daily living. Through no fault of our own, we can end up bruised and broken. But just as God did not abandon Jonah in his hour of need, He will not abandon us when we are vulnerable.

In our verse for the Day, Paul points to the hope Christians have in the power of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how the storms of life buffet us, we need to cling to that hope.

The Lord God gives us the strength to do so. Weak and undeserving as we are, the Holy Spirit undertakes for us at all times and in all circumstances.

John Greenleaf Whittier (1809 - 1892) American poet and journalist, in his poem 'The Eternal Goodness' wrote:

I walk with bare, hushed feet the ground,

Ye trod with boldness shod,

I dare not fix with mete and bound,

The love and power of God.

Yet in the maddening maze of things,

And tossed by storm and flood,

To one fixed trust my spirit clings,

I know that God is good.

I know not what the future hath

Of marvel or surprise,

Assured alone that life and death

His mercy underlies.

And if my heart and flesh are weak,

To bear an untried pain,

The bruis'ed reed He will not break

But strengthen and sustain

This hope is the anchor to life, it is safe and secure.

Prayer: Heavenly Father may the Holy Spirit keep our hope grounded in faith for Jesus sake. Amen