Joshua 19:1-20:9; Luke 19:28-48; Ps. 88:1-18; Pr. 1:12-14
Today is the 19th day of April. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I am Brian. It is wonderful as it always is to be together around the global campfire that is our community. The Word of God is burning bright. And we all come in out of the cold or whatever the distraction of the day has been and warm ourselves together as it washes over us. So I’m glad and thankful and deeply grateful that we can have another day in the Scriptures. And today we’ll be journeying back out into the book of Joshua where the Promised Land is being settled. From the Contemporary English Version this week, Joshua chapter 19 and 20 today.
Commentary
Okay. So in the book of Proverbs today we come to a very very famous very quotable Proverb. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life. And hope is something that we’re looking at in the Scriptures this year. And if we look back from where we are now, right? We’re about thirty percent through the Bible this year. So if rather than facing forward to the next day, if we just turn around and look at where we’ve been. In all of these stories that we see, where would any of them lead without hope? If we look at Abraham who had a promise that he was never going to see but aimed his life accordingly. Would that have ever worked if there were no hope? What about this son of promise, Isaac. About this time next year you will be holding your own son, Sarah was told. And she laughed, right? Because that was a hopeless declaration in her mind. But she was told again, no, this is what is going to happen and it did. And that changed things. If we go through the story of Isaac, if we go through the story of Jacob working for a couple of decades for his uncle, hoping one day to return to the land of his birth. How would that story have ever played out without hope? If we look at the story of Joseph who was human trafficked by his own family into Egypt. How would that story have ever worked without hope? If we look at the story of the Exodus. How would that story work without hope? If we look at the children of Israel in the wilderness, grumbling and complaining, we see when they lose their hope and we see God continue to restore them. How do we even get into the book of Joshua where we are now in the Promised Land without hope? The Proverb tells us hope delayed or deferred makes the heart sick. I mean, all we have to do is look in our own lives, look at our own situations and know that that’s the truth. And what we’re not talking about is anticipation, right? Like you order something from Amazon and it’s not Amazon Prime. It’s like you’re gonna have to wait all week for it. And you’re jumping up and down because this is the thing that’s gonna change your life and you gotta wait. It’s delayed. It’s deferred. And then you look and you find out, ahh it was supposed to be delivered today but it’s not. It’s gonna be maybe in the next day or two. So, yeah, that’s a bummer, but that’s just your anticipation showing itself, right? You still believe it’s going to arrive. This package is going to get here. It’s taking longer than it was supposed to, but it is going to get here. Hope deferred is when you’re not sure it’s actually going to come. So you are anticipating something in your life. It’s probably not going to be a package. You are anticipating something, a trajectory, a dream fulfilled, something that you believe you’ve been promised or something that you’ve been aiming toward for a long time. And hope actually is the engine that keeps you taking steps forward. Hope is actually the thing, the bridge between you and that outcome. It’s the thing that keeps you where you are right now but connected to that thing in the future that you believe will be yours. When that gets deferred or delayed you become heartsick. And there’s a reason. Because fear has washed down the gully and washed your bridge away. You’re not sure anymore that this really will happen. And usually with hope, there’s threads of it still kind of reaching across that washed out gully to what you had hoped for. And so we have terms like, I’m holding on by a thread. But what we’re actually saying is the possibility that this is not going to come to fruition has been introduced and now it is growing inside of me producing fear within me. And fear is like Kryptonite to your hope just like it was the sapping of the strength of Superman. I’m not big into sports analogies or Marvel comics or anything like that. But I can remember that as a kid. I can remember playing Superman having this rock. That this was the kryptonite. And the kryptonite would make Superman normal, right? He wouldn’t have any of his special powers. That’s what fear does to or hope. So pretty much if your hope is deferred and your heart is sick, you don’t have to look too far to find fear. And you start looking at fear and you’re gonna find it all around the situation. And that is what is stealing your hope. I mean, it may not materialize as terror, like what we would associate fear with, some sort of terror. It is simply the idea that this might not work out. And the child of that fear, that thought, that introduction into the equation, is only going to be anxiety. So if your life right now is full of fear, that anxiety that can’t be really named that’s just churning inside of you continually, than your hope is probably deferred. And just being able to say that out loud, just being able to name that is really helpful. Because it’s not a resolution, right? Hope is your connection to something that is not, but you want it to be. You are believing that it will be. Nothing has changed. Fear has washed down the gully and washed away your hope so that you are hanging by a thread, which has produced an incredible amount of anxiety. But nothing has really changed here. Hope is always going to be out in front of you. You don’t have to hope for what you already have. Hope is the thing that brings near. Hope is the road that faith drives on. But a road that’s been washed out is a closed road, right? It needs to be repaired. And a road that’s just left unmaintained is gonna get full of potholes and all kinds of other problems and will eventually deteriorate into nothing. Hope has to be repaired. And hope has to be maintained. And it’s gonna be stretched. Sometimes, you know, when a wall of fear comes pounding down upon your bridge of hope, you have to hold on for dear life and whether the storm and then fix it. But I also know from the Scriptures and from life itself there is always hope. It’s never unavailable. But our hope will first need to be in God and not in that thing or that event or that outcome that we are looking for. If all of our attention and obsession and hope is in an outcome and not in God to bring about the outcome, we’re going to get washed out. So some things to think about today. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
Prayer
Father, we acknowledge that you are very clear about why you came. That we might have life. But we’re also pretty clear from our own life experience that that isn’t going to work disconnected from you. Which requires that the very hope of life itself is in you and you alone. And so we mend those fences, ask your Holy Spirit to come and show us where we’re just holding on by a thread even to that. Our hope is in you and in you alone because there is no other place to put our hope. We can put our hope anywhere we want but it’s not going to work if our hope is not in you. And so all of the things that we’re hoping for, all the things that we’re wishing for, all that’s out in front of us pulling us forward. All those things are real. But we acknowledge that our hope for any of it is in you and you alone. Because you are the source of life. We invite your Holy Spirit to make this a reality for us today. Something that peels back the layers and gets us down to our foundation. Because hope is a foundational thing to our very existence. So come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus name we ask. And we put all of our hope in you and you alone. In Jesus name. Amen.
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And that’s it for today. I’m Brian. I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community prayer and praise
Good morning. This is Steve from Manchester, New Hampshire. And I’m calling in regards to, I hope I get the name right, Nicola from New York who called in regards to her sister Rebecca who has been dealing with health issues for many years. When your request came in my heart was moved and quickened to me was a Scripture from Luke 13 verse 16. And it says, and ought not this woman being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan kept bound loe these 18 years be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? And I want to pray that your sister be loosed from all the health issues, the thyroid problem and (oppression) that has been caused as a result of these health issues. Father, in the name of Jesus, I pray for every assignment that the enemy has against Rebecca to be broken in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Chains be broken now. In Jesus name. And we pray the Rebecca would be free, spirit, soul and body. In Jesus mighty name. God bless.
Hi. This is Joanne from? Valley. And it’s April 16. I just heard a call from anonymous saying that she’s tired of her husband. I kind of felt that way too. He drove me crazy he (was) very self centered, he didn’t have much nice to say to me. He never hurt me. I never felt unsafe with him, but I just got tired of taking care of him, being ignored by him. And then one day he died right on front of me. And I remember widows saying to me you’ll feel differently when he’s gone. And I just kind of laughed, but you do. I know that in his family he was kind of ignored and his father didn’t pay much attention to his mother, he was very arrogant so I understand where he’s coming from now. But I also remember times when I think I could have reached out to him because he was so arrogant he was trying to hide…
To be continued.
My name is Mad go. I’m a first time caller from Iowa. I’m calling for prayers please for my marriage. I’ve been married about seven years. My husband and I are not on the same page as far as a church home. It’s very devisive and very painful in my family. Would you please pray that God would show him how abandoned we feel by him spiritually. Please pray that he will stop living in denial and please pray that God would heal some wounds that he has carried since childhood. Anonymous, you called in. Your message was played on 4/16 and I am praying for you. You’ve been married for twenty some years and you were asking for prayer for your arrogant husband and I just want you to know that my heart goes out to you. Arrogance takes many forms. Sometimes it’s denial, but it is still hurtful. So sister, I am praying for you. Thank you all for praying for my family from Iowa.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. This is wrapped in His unfailing love. And I first of all want to thank I believe it was Elaine and Dwayne who prayed for my son Brian and thank you for all those who prayed for Brian. He’s doing much better and continue to keep him in your prayers. I’m calling today for anonymous. And I had to chuckle a little bit that you’re tired of your husband and I’m sure there are many women that feel that way. But, you know, I just wanna encourage you. You have your husband. And there’s so many of us that, I for one, that would just love to have one more day with mine. I think it really is about love and respect. Men need to be respected and women need love and we all need that. We all wanna feel cherished. So I’m gonna encourage you to find something that you can be thankful for everyday that you have a partner to walk through life with. That God would just bless you, anonymous. That you would realize the blessing you have in him and that he would realize the blessing he has in you. That you’re walking together and he’s a man of faith and you’re a woman of God. And love is just not a feeling its a commitment. And you have that. So Lord, I lift up anonymous and her marriage to you. And I ask that you would bless her richly in love for her husband and he for her. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Hi Daily Audio Bible. I was listening on April 16 2018 to anonymous caller that is tired in her marriage. I just want to let you know I’m praying for you. I’m with you in this and the Lord has laid you on my heart. And also I’m going through the same thing. So lifting you up and I appreciate you sharing what’s on your heart. Thank you.
Hi everybody. This is Cherry Chase Cherry Pie I hope everybody is?? I am calling in for the? Today. It’s Monday. Oh Lord, it’s the 17th 16th. I don’t know. But it’s Monday. I’m calling in. We had an anonymous call called in? I’m not laughing at you, I’m laughing with you, called in about you husband with, you know, your nerves honey. I am glad that you are so transparent. A lot of us feel the same way but a lot of is not gonna say it. I just had this conversation the other day with someone. And it’s great that you’re transparent. I am definitely gonna lift you up into prayer. In prayer I’m gonna keep you covered, girl. Keep pushing. It’s gonna be okay. We’ve all (getting in) a hard place in our marriage. And I know you said you’ve been married for years. I’ve been married going on five and let me tell you sometimes it gets hard. Sometimes I wanna run and I.
To be continued