Living Before His Face, Is My Saving Grace

And now God, I’m left with one conclusion: my only hope is to hope in You alone.

Ps. 39:7 TPT

And now we have run into his heart to hide ourselves in his faithfulness. This is where we find his strength and comfort, for he empowers us to seize what has already been established ahead of time-an unshakeable hope! We have this certain hope like a strong unbreakable anchor holding our souls to God himself. Our anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat which sits in the heavenly realm beyond the sacred threshold.

Heb. 6:18-19 TPT

Hope is from the word qavah (cord, bind together with twisting). The root is chebel (wind tightly, to bind as a rope. In Joshua 2 , Rahab the harlot, demonstrated her hope that the spies from Israel would rescue her family upon their return by placing in her window a sign of hope. This cord of hope showed her faith in the protection of the spies. It was a scarlet cord that the spies used to escape. That cord was also to be used as a sign of protection for her family when the spies returned. This rope /hope was symbolic of the redemptive work of Jesus that saves us all if we receive Jesus’ free gift.

In 2 Kings 4:30 the Shunammite woman threw herself at Elisha’s feet and would not leave until Elisha agreed to go to her house and heal her young son that had died. Elisha is the one that gave her the promise from God that she would have a son. She did have a son and later he died but Elisha went to pray for the boy and life was restored to him. The mother’s hope was in the promise maker. She clung to this hope with all her strength.

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the book “Hope Resurrected” by Dutch Sheets, he tells the story of his brother observing a heart surgery. The patient’s heart had been stopped from beating. However, when it came time to restart it, despite repeated attempts, the medical staff was unable to get the heart to beat again. Finally, although the patient was obviously unconscious, the surgeon leaned over and said into the patient’s ear, “We need your help. We cannot get your heart going. Tell your heart to start beating.” Immediately, as incredible as it sounds, the patient’s heart began to beat again.

Hold fast to the feet of the Promise Keeper. Keep the scarlet cord of hope in the window of your heart as a sign. Remember your anchor of hope is fastened to the mercy seat. Tell your heart to beat again. Tell the Lord that your hope is in Him alone. Dream some more. Hope more.

Then I will say to my soul, “Don’t be discouraged; don’t be disturbed, for I fully expect my Savior-God to break through for me. Then I’ll have plenty of reasons to praise him all over again.” Yes, living before his face is my saving grace!

Ps 43:5 TPT