Hope

Hope is one of our greatest gifts. Thank You Lord for giving us the ability to hope. Hope can lift our broken spirits, strengthen our feeble bodies and transform our darkest moments into light, giddy praise. As we are constantly faced with disaster and destruction, I continue to focus on a renewed vision of God. God is My Healer, My Deliverer, My Provider. Hope is not wishful thinking or even positive thinking, Hope springs eternal. Hope delivers us from despair. Hope is the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. Hope. God can restore anything that is in ruins. Hope. You are more than enough for me.

Amos 9

Israel to Be Destroyed

 ¹ I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:
       "Strike the tops of the pillars
       so that the thresholds shake.
       Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
       those who are left I will kill with the sword.
       Not one will get away,
       none will escape.  ² Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, ^[a]
       from there my hand will take them.
       Though they climb up to the heavens,
       from there I will bring them down.
 ³ Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
       there I will hunt them down and seize them.
       Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea,
       there I will command the serpent to bite them.
 ⁴ Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
       there I will command the sword to slay them.
       I will fix my eyes upon them
       for evil and not for good."
 ⁵ The Lord, the LORD Almighty,
       he who touches the earth and it melts,
       and all who live in it mourn—
       the whole land rises like the Nile,
       then sinks like the river of Egypt-
 ⁶ he who builds his lofty palace ^[b] in the heavens
       and sets its foundation ^[c] on the earth,
       who calls for the waters of the sea
       and pours them out over the face of the land—
       the LORD is his name.
 ⁷ "Are not you Israelites
       the same to me as the Cushites ^[d] ?"
       declares the LORD .
       "Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
       the Philistines from Caphtor ^[e]
       and the Arameans from Kir?
 ⁸ "Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD
       are on the sinful kingdom.
       I will destroy it
       from the face of the earth—
       yet I will not totally destroy
       the house of Jacob,"
       declares the LORD.
 ⁹ "For I will give the command,
       and I will shake the house of Israel
       among all the nations
       as grain is shaken in a sieve,
       and not a pebble will reach the ground.
 ¹⁰ All the sinners among my people
       will die by the sword,
       all those who say,
       'Disaster will not overtake or meet us.'

Israel's Restoration

 ¹¹ "In that day I will restore
       David's fallen tent.
       I will repair its broken places,
       restore its ruins,
       and build it as it used to be,  ¹² so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
       and all the nations that bear my name, ^[f] "
       declares the LORD, who will do these things.
 ¹³ "The days are coming," declares the LORD,
       "when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
       and the planter by the one treading grapes.
       New wine will drip from the mountains
       and flow from all the hills.
 ¹⁴ I will bring back my exiled ^[g] people Israel;
       they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
       They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
       they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
 ¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
       never again to be uprooted
       from the land I have given them,"
       says the LORD your God.