Season of Hope

Isaiah 9:6-7 NIV
[6] For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [7] Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

This Christmas season brings many old familiar scriptures to light.  But the ones that mean the most to me are the ones written many years before Christ arrived in that manger in Bethlehem.  As a child I was unaware of the origin of the many scriptures from the Old Testament predicting the birth of Christ.  It is only in my more recent life that these scriptures have sprung to life. Floyd Hamilton, in The Basis of Christian Faith, writes, “Canon Liddon is authority for the statement that there are in the Old Testament 332 distinct predictions which were literally fulfilled in Christ.” 

That is a 'wow' moment for me.  What are the odds of 332 predictions to come true in one single person?  Mind boggling, that is what it is. Most of these prophecies were written hundreds of years before the birth of Christ in an age of hopelessness. To me, hope is so much more poignant in the Old Testament than the New Testament.  When reading the Old Testament we have the advantage of peeking in the New Testament and seeing how things worked out.  Today I want to highlight the hope of the Prophet Micah.  Here is his prophecy of the Christ.  

Micah 5:2 NIV

[2] “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.”

According to B. Elmo Scoggin in the Broadman Bible Commentary, Micah lived in approximately 800 B.C. “when morals were low, government was decadent, courts were corrupt, religion was formalistic, the nation had lost its integrity”.  Hmmm....sounds familiar.  So that is why I turn to Micah to learn about hope.  Here is his take on hope.

Micah 7:5-7 NIV

[5] Do not trust a neighbor; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips. [6] For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law---a man's enemies are the members of his own household. [7] But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.

According to Micah, when we hope, we need to be very careful not to place it in flawed humans, not even our own most trusted loved ones. Our hope must be placed in God himself.  Out of faith, hope and love, we know love to be the greatest but we often treat hope as the least.  I see hope as the foundation for the other two.  Those who have no hope have nothing at all, no faith and no love. So it is imperative that we find hope and place it in the one that does not disappoint.  

Romans 5:5 NET
[5] And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

If we place our hope in God, it springs to life in the times that are bleak, when our loss is devastating and our very soul is downcast.  I can remember a Christmas in 1985 that I spent alone.  I was totally alone yet it did not devastate me.  Now I know that was because my hope was in Christ, not the presence of my children in my house, or presents under my tree.  I was alone but yet comforted.  Deep down, it was OK.  The year that followed that lonely Christmas was one of the best of my life.  God is good. He does not disappoint.  

Lamentations 3:19-26 NIV

[19] I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. [20] I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. [21] Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: [22] Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. [23] They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. [24] I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” [25] The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; [26] it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.