God says His plans are supposed to be our rope to our future. The issue is when they control you and your hope. It is ok to have money, a house, friendships, and deep relationships as a gift in your life. True hope is when we tie ourselves to God as our primary security source. This is why God says, do not hope in money, people, politics, or your abilities, because all of it could fail and falter. Then, when I lose my job, can’t pay my rent, get sick, lose my money, the wrong person gets in the White House, the economy tanks, a loved one dies, I will lose all hope for this life! If my security is tied to anything in this world - my job, house, health, money, political party, economy, whatever - then I have secured my hope to this world rather than to God. How do you react when the rope gets cut to that source? That reveals how much hope you placed in that versus in God. So how do you know if you have put your hope in God or something else? By looking at what you have tied yourself to in life as your primary security source. So, whether we feel it or not, we proclaim this truth - that God has a good plan for our lives, regardless of the moment’s circumstances. We can’t see out of the pit, but God will lift us out if we hold on to the truth. Hope is the lifeline rope that we hold on to when we are stuck in the pit of despair. Hope isn’t a feeling but a choice to hold on to what the Bible says is true. Hope is not a feeling but a rope held by our God. This means that God has plans to prosper us, and knowing this truth ties us, ropes us, anchors us to our future. So another way to read Jeremiah 29:11 is “For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you A ROPE (tiqvah) and a future.'” Joshua 2:18 NLT, “8 When we come into the land, you must leave this scarlet rope (tiqvah) hanging from the window through which you let us down.” In this verse, the Hebrew word we translate as “hope” is “tiqvah.” One of its definitions is “hope,” but when this word, “tiqvah,” first appears in the Bible for in Joshua 2:18, it has another translation: “a rope.” God tells us in Jeremiah 29:11 NIV, ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'” I don’t know about you, but I grew up believing that hope is a feeling. Theodore Roosevelt once said, “When you’re at the end of your rope, tie a knot and hold on.” That’s good advice.
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