The answer to finding hope in despair is found in Isaiah 54. Hope for the hopeless. Joy for the downcast. Love for the unloved. “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth, and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more. For your Maker is your husband, the LORD of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. For the LORD has called you like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth when she is cast off, says your God.” Isaiah 54:4-6  We are complete only when we are with God. There is no other thing in heaven or on earth that will satisfy the desires of our hearts. We must identify ourselves with God alone.

Do you have to win this wonderful completeness that is found in God? Do we have to start this process and get to the benchmark of success before God will acknowledge us? “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” Isaiah 55:1,2  The wonderful truth of God’s love is present in Isaiah 55. Come and drink anyone who thirsts. Come and drink freely no money can buy this drink because there is no price. The love of God is freely given. The idea of something being free is contrary to the ideologies we encounter on a daily basis. The world tells us that we must work hard to fulfill all of our desires. God is telling us that we need not toil for His love because it has been extend towards us long before we ever knew we were desiring that great love. Do not waste your life striving to make yourself complete. Trust in God alone to make you whole.

Listen to the words in Isaiah. Realize these words are speaking to your condition. Will you seek the LORD while he may be found? Will you call upon him while he is near? God is ever present and waiting for you to come to Him. You need not clean up your life before coming to Him. Will you start your journey of faith? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sin? Today can be the beginning of your hope filled future. Will you trust? Will you believe?

Tell of the greatness of God. Proclaim the great truth that Jesus Christ brings hope to the weariness of life. The mundane has purpose and the dreary becomes vibrant when Jesus Christ enters the fray. “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” Isaiah 35:3-6a  Nothing in this world is able to prevent the vengeful love of God from healing your brokenness. Will you be strong? Will you wait upon the Lord?

The path is before you. Will you walk in peace and trust? God has made a way for you to endure this life of pain and trouble. Jesus Christ has died on the cross of Calvary to bring you salvation. “And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Isaiah 35:8-10  Will you live out your eternal blessedness today? We have been given the full measure of Jesus Christ’s blessing today. We can shout and sing for joy because our Hope and Joy lives. Take your trust in Jesus Christ alone today and you will not be ashamed.

“My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies.” Song of Solomon 6:2,3  There is a beautiful union that is created by love that binds those within its embrace to each other. The ultimate expression of this amazing love was portrayed upon the cross of Calvary where love compelled Jesus Christ to willingly die for sinful man. For those who have placed their full trust in the sufficiency of the work of Jesus Christ there has been a transfomation that has impacted their heart, mind, soul, and strength. Have you experience this love? Do you desire a love that will accept you beyond comprehension? This unconditional love of God is is freely given to all of those who will cease striving to save themselves and acknowledge their need for God’s help. Will you trust in the save grace of God?

This glimpse into the love expressed between the bride and bridegroom points to the wondrous love that God extends towards us. God desires for us to dwell with Him. Have you heard the voice of God tenderly calling out to you, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away”? Any true love that is experienced on earth is only a poor imitation of the true love that is from God alone. Do you believe that God loves you? Have you seen this great love of God? You only have to look to the cross of Calvary to see the depth and breadth of God’s love for us. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16  What an amazing true love express to us. Do you know this love?

“So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” Ecclesiastes2:9-11  We choose to work harder pushing ourselves to reach higher levels of success giving ourselves fleeting fulfillment in the midst of our torturous toils. Is the daily grind of life all that there is to our existence? Why we are constantly striving to complete the cycle of working to live to keep working? What do we do to endure the overwhelming futility of life?

We need to remember that our inherent need is to have fellowship with God. We run to an assortment of things to make life more bearable but our perspective is flawed in our toiling. We neglect to look away from ourselves and to a God who loves us. “There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.” Ecclesiastes 2:24-26  We must find our hope and security in the unmovable fact that it is God who ordains our steps. If we fix our perspective of life upon the truth that God is sovereignly in control we can endure any situation because our existence is founded on God. Can you find your hope in the truth that God is in control of your life? Will you allow your inherent need to be fulfilled by God? The cross of Calvary is the amazing wondrous testament to God’s desire to redeem you from the futility of life. Have you trusted in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?

Will you trust the in God alone for your salvation? Jesus Christ was offered up as a sacrifice on the cross of calvary so that you could be restored. Throughout the text of Proverbs we are exhorted to make God the singular priority of our lives. “‘Whoever is naive, let him turn in here! ‘ To him who lacks understanding she says, ‘Come, eat of my food and drink of the wine I have mixed. Forsake your folly and live, and proceed in the way of understanding.’” Proverbs 9:4-6 Understanding is found when we turn to God as our all powerful sustainer. We must turn out hearts away from the ways for the world and fix our eyes on Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. “For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice, and He preserves the way of His godly ones.” Proverbs 2:6-8

All the authors of Proverbs are imparting their collective knowledge and experience to the posterity of faith that has followed in their footsteps to seek and know God. “Take my instruction and not silver, and knowledge rather than choicest gold. For wisdom is better than jewels; and all desirable things cannot compare with her. I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverted mouth, I hate. Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding, power is mine.” Proverbs 8:10-14 We are exhorted to look only to God for our hope and help instead of the myriad of enticements offered by the world. It is a difficult path that we tread through life and God has given us hope through the text of Proverbs. We are not alone in our toil in this life. Others before us have made it through life while the world raged only because of God’s help and deliverance.

”The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, that one may avoid the snares of death. In a multitude of people is a king’s glory, but in the dearth of people is a prince’s ruin. He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. A tranquil heart is life to the body, but passion is rottenness to the bones.” Proverbs 14:27-30 You will find your hope for tomorrow in God. You will have purpose in this life because of God. Death will no longer hold any power over you because of God’s love and provision. Proverbs bring hope to those who know Jesus Christ as their savior but those who do not know Jesus as their Savior will be filled with dread and fear. Will you embrace the bloody cross of Jesus Christ and find cleansing for your soul?

“The Lord is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous… The fear of the Lord is the instruction for wisdom, and before honor comes humility.” Proverbs 15:29,33  How is distance from God measured? What can be seen in our lives that tells of the distance that is between God and us? Distance is truly a heart issue and what we delight in we will feel closer to. Do you delight in God? Do you find your hope and help in God? “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answers of the tongue is from the Lord. All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the motives. Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established. The Lord has made everything for its own purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.”Proverbs 16:1-4  Are your own thoughts and feelings the motivating factor of your life? Do you strive to obtain glory for your deeds? Will you rather commit your way to the Lord and delight in Him?

There must be a point in your life that you choose whether you will serve God our yourself. God knows all that we do. There is no loophole that allows or affords us to live for ourselves and to obtain God’s salvation. A choice must be made. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling. It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud. He who gives attention to the word will find good, and blessed is he who trusts in the Lord.” Proverbs 16:18-20 We must in humility acknowledge that we are incapable of saving ourselves. We must make the critical choice that God is the only one who is able to save us from our helpless state. Will you embrace the wonderful wisdom found in the grace of God? The fearfully wondrous God of creation is present before you ready to release you from the bonds of depravity that ensnarl you. Will you commit your way to the Lord?  Stop striving and know that God is God and His way is the way of hope. Rest in the truth that God has made a way for you.

Beloved of God you are not alone in this world. You may look upon this world thinking that chaos rules and that there is no hope for you to truly find help. Read the beautiful words of Psalm 139; God created you, set your life in motion and sustains you through the darkest moments of your life. “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will be night,’ even the darkness is not dark to You, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You.” Psalm 139:11,12  As David wrote Psalm 139 he realized the powerful truth that God was intimately involved and present in every moment of his existence. No matter where David was or what circumstances he faced God was always there. Will you embrace this intimate God who knows you? “Search me, O God and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.” Psalm 139:23,24

The greatest proof the God loves you is found in the beautiful cross of Jesus Christ. In the moment that Jesus Christ died for the sins of the world an eternal hope was offered to humanity. Will you trust in the cross of Jesus Christ? Do you realize that God knew our sinful state long before the world was created and He purposed to send Jesus Christ to die for us? Will you embrace this love of God? Will you trust Him?