O Prisoner of Hope - by April Lynne Self

      Do you struggle with knowing what you can trust and what you can believe? Even as a Christian of many years, I wrestle with this.  I do believe that the Word of God is true; and that this truth will set the prisoner free and bring hope and healing.  However, God’s ways are above mine and I do not always know what “setting the prisoner free” looks like and sometimes it is all I can do to say with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego:  “I know that you can do this God, but even if you don’t, I will still trust in You.” 

We have a God that can move mountains upon our request, but not all the mountains seem to disappear when we implore our God.  We have a God that provides instantaneous salvation, but doesn’t remove all the sinful issues in our lives at once.  What is God’s part in answering these requests and what is mine?  And I question my own motives in prayer, am I asking a righteous godly thing, or am I just looking for an easy way out?

I am not alone in this struggle between His plan and my part; a beautiful and tenuous example of this is seen in Philippians 2:12b-13:  “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”  God is doing the actual work, but our struggle is part of the process of making His plan manifest itself. So, how do we know that we are on a path we can trust?

My faith and my study have led me to this one conclusion:  the bottom line to this every day, where the rubber meets the road, functional faith, is as simple as believing that God will be true to Himself.  If our faith can hold us to this one solid undisputable point, then our journey has a strong foundation.  Whatever His plan and interaction with us and our lives – it will hold true to God’s very nature.  Thus it becomes imperative that you know His attributes – His characteristics – who He is – as much as our human minds can comprehend.  In fact, Romans (1:20) tells us that everyone (Christian and not) can clearly see His attributes through just the universe that He has made.  Yet that is just the beginning.  Typically, the world and its wonders lead us to more questions than answers, but the Word clarifies these characteristics.  If you want to know His definition of love, study the reason that Jesus hung on the cross.  If you want to know His definition of Holiness, see the way He protects and separates out His people and His Temple.  If you want to know His definition of His power, read and meditate on the numerous stories found in His Word that have been kept true throughout the centuries for us to learn from without hidden agendas.

Recently, I have found myself at odds with this great dilemma of what God CAN do and what He WILL do and what I can truly trust.  I have found myself going through several years of hardship and turmoil that seemed to suck the life out of me.  I found myself struggling with thoughts of, “Is this punishment?”  “Did I choose a wrong path?”  “Will God choose to bail me out of a pit so deep that I cannot fathom any way of escape?”  In the middle of this struggle, God started to open a way out.  Not because I had really done anything new or better or even good, but because I started asking for help.  In humility, exposing the darkness and filth, God started carving a way out.  Humility is a powerful tool that God has established from the beginning of time, right through the way of salvation, to be used to work His will in our lives. Therefore, it is something we can all trust in to begin the process of healing and help in our lives.

But there was more, even as I started to see light, the weight of the years “that the locust had taken” were heavy upon my soul.  Maybe I would be able to survive, but would a full and abundant life still be possible?  Could I still be valuable to the Kingdom of God?  This was when God turned my practical mindset of faith and function on its edge.  I heard some preachers preaching their “happy, blessing” type messages that I normally take with a grain of salt.  But God spoke something to my heart – that there was more, and not just more, but BETTER in store – and if I can be so bold as to say – better for ME.  Three times, from three different preachers did I hear a message that spoke that to my soul.  But yet, I was not sure.  Was this for me, or was this some promise for Israel that people take out of context to say encouraging uplifting words to people who want to hear that?

This led me back to who God is, and what He has established from the beginning.  I noticed that even in the law, God formed the principle that when someone lost something (i.e. someone took something from them), the person who lost was to be rewarded with double whatever was taken.  Then it appeared that if in fact thief was unable, or unwilling, to repay the individual, God would step in and make sure that the person reaped those benefits anyway.  So when God spoke to Israel that He would double (Joel 2, Isaiah 61 and Zechariah 9) all that they had lost, what had been taken from them; He was only doing what was in His nature.  He was only following through on a basic principle of His.  Even, as in the case of Israel, where the offended person (or nation), lost things because of their own sin and shame.  As God looks at His people throughout history, He not only hopes for, but establishes a way of blessing that will be there when they “get to the other side” of their current struggles.  It is also interesting to note that in the three above referenced sections of Scripture, not only is there a promise of recompense for Israel, but this promise comes in the middle of prophetic language about the work of Christ.  Now the work of Christ is in me.  He has saved my soul.  I am one of His that He has redeemed.  Therefore, I can truly say that this characteristic, this basic attribute of God to redeem and replenish in abundant ways is something that I can trust in – that I can hope in.

A key verse that He has given me is Zechariah 9:12, “Return to your stronghold, O prisoner of Hope, today I declare that I will restore to you double.”  Yet for this principle to hold true in my life – and now in yours – there is this course of action that must be taken on our part.  We are to return to our stronghold; to the place where God has established in us His truth.  We cannot wander around in the wilderness doing our own thing and expect that God is going to run after us and create well-watered areas in the path of our OWN choosing.  We are to return to Him, humbly accepting all that God wishes to reveal to our souls, that we might be freed, and ultimately refreshed, by His truth.  And then we are to create a “prison” of hope for our souls.  We cannot continue to thrive and live on regret, remorse and frustration – but we need to establish that place of hope that we can cling to no matter what. 

“And HOPE does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit . . .” (Romans 5:5)    “May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

                Even as I write this, I can feel the joy flooding my soul.  Not because everything has been fixed, or that there are not obstacles I need to face in my future, but because I truly have hope.  I have seen some of His work in my life already; and I can rest solidly in the FACT that God has established something better for me, from all that has been removed from my life.  I do not know what “double” might really mean to God – or what it is going to look like – but I trust God that it will be better and more than I lost.  I do not even have to worry whether or not it was my fault; I can still trust in God’s goodness.  Hope, when placed in something as secure as the very nature of God, is a mighty powerful thing.  And I “hope” that anyone reading this may recognize that as they come before God in humility and line up with His Word in their lives, God can not only carry you through this moment, but He has given you a secure “hope” of something better.