I Put My Hope in Your Word
Open Your Bible
Psalm 119:73-88, Hebrews 4:12-13, Genesis 18:9-15, Genesis 21:1-7
BY Ellen L. Taylor
I grew up going to church three times a week and met some of my closest friends (even to this day!) in youth group. Most of my Facebook statuses in high school were inspirational Bible verses that I hoped would encourage my friends at my public high school who weren’t believers. I went to a Christian university for my undergraduate degree, where mandatory chapel was held twice a week, and every student was required to take six semesters worth of Bible classes. I interned at a local church and even earned a minor degree in the Bible. And then, I went to graduate divinity school.
But somewhere along the way, I stopped delighting in Scripture. I saw it as something to be studied, but not something to be taken to heart. I began to think of God as something to learn about rather than someone to know. To date, this was one of the most confusing times in my life so far.
After a time spent in this confusing season, I was given a special project at work; I was instructed to go through the entire book of Genesis, chapter by chapter, writing discussion questions along the way for kids aged eleven to fifteen.
I don’t know the last time you read through the book of Genesis (maybe in January when we read it together, as an SRT community), but there are some stories in that book that are, well, a little less than age-appropriate for young teens. As I was going through some of the trickier passages, the discussion point I kept coming back to was that God keeps His promises to His people. His people keep turning away from Him, not believing Him, disobeying Him and turning to other gods, but God is consistently faithful to His promises.
One of the passages that fell into this category was the story of Sarah and her pregnancy with Isaac. When God told her she would become pregnant in her old age, Sarah laughed at the very thought (Genesis 18:9–15). But God kept His promise to her, and she bore a son (Genesis 21:1–7). After reading and working through the rest of the book of Genesis, I went into my friend’s office exasperated and frustrated with myself because I couldn’t find anything else for the discussion questions. She encouraged me to keep at it and do my best, and reassured me that maybe it was okay if God keeping His promises was the main theme of the project.
Soon after completing the project, I realized that what had been frustrating me about the book of Genesis was exactly what I needed to hear and understand about God in a season of my own confusion and doubt: God keeps His promises to His people. He keeps His promises when your world seems to come crashing down. He keeps His promises when your best friend betrays you, when a dear family member falls ill, when the plans you had for your life have suddenly fallen to pieces around you. I know He does because I’ve seen it in my own life. His promises to His people are true. We can put our hope in Him to do so (Psalm 119:81). What a beautiful gift.
65 thoughts on "I Put My Hope in Your Word"
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Amen…powerful
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I want to add about some thing I said earlier. I knew I had to forgive this young lady. And I’m going to say this boldly. I knew I had to forgive her even though she did not tell the truth about how the accident happened. It was so hard. But after posting last week, and all of your comments, I stepped out in faith, and God provided!  YES, God keeps His promises. He is Jehovah Jireh!!
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I needed the precious reminder that God keeps His promises! That His promises are for my good & His glory (Romans 8:28), and I can trust Him. Every time.
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Hello all! Thank you for all you share everyday. I’m always so encouraged and learn so much by what you share. I also pray for so many of you as you share and I hope you are all doing well. I wanted to ask for your prayers, as I have an interview today at 9:00 and Monday at 9:00 for a special education internship teaching position. Please pray I feel God’s peace, do well and get the position.
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Praying for you now, Candi!
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Thank you girls for praying! It went ok. I think I answered all the questions well, but I felt so nervous and stuttered alot :(. I’m praying God will help them forget that and see me favorably. Part 2 is Monday :). Thanks again!!
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Yesterday afternoon, I hurt my back. I have never done that before. I knew as I went to bed that the morning would probably find it worse, not better. I prayed, asking God to bring healing. Well, I slept pretty soundly all night long, and before I got out of bed I thanked the Lord for that. But once up, I knew it was going to be a long series of days before it would feel normal again. No complaining, just a sort of resignation. As I read, “I know,
Lord that your judgments are just and that you have afflicted me fairly,” I honestly couldn’t help but laugh with a joy that came from deep inside, truly a healing balm over my soul (and my back). “Change your focus, child” is what came to mind!! Light and momentary affliction (2 Cor 4:17) and
nothing more!! God knows me so well!! -
MARI V, that is what I’m talking about!
God,GOD IS SO SO ABSOLUTELY GOOD…I am glad He has delivered His promise..
Enjoy your gift!
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Aw…. thank you Tina!! Your testimony inspired me and I believed OUR GOD would provide!
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Tina, that was exactly what I needed to hear today. Thank you for being obedient and sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading! ♥️
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In Psalm 119:73-80 the psalmist seems to continue to be encouraged by the Lord’s faithfulness and commands. In vs 81-88 there is a change in tone. The psalmist has grown weary in his waiting and is crying out to the Lord for help and deliverance.
As it says in Hebrews, the Lord knows our thoughts anyway, there is no use hiding. I love how the psalmist feels confident in his relationship with the Lord to ask the hard questions, to share his pain. God is not offended by this, He can take our raw sufferings and emotions. The psalmist has not lost faith in who God is, he is feeling the weight of being a sinner in a sinful world.
But as I am reminded in Genesis- God has an appointed time for everything. He came to Sarah at what seemed to be an impossible time. He will rescue the psalmist at the appointed time. He will deliver me at the appointed time as well.
May I rest in the waiting, knowing the appointed time is coming.
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