Daily Encouragement: Year 1, Day 11
Adapted from Handbook to Leadership
Personal Development: Courage/Risk-Taking
This passage tells us that there are two reasons why God’s promises are certain: the consistent nature of His will and the fact that He cannot break His covenant. Thus, the only stable and unqualified ground of hope is the immutable character of God and the promises that flow out of His character. Many people have an ill-defined or unbiblical hope; they look to the world and not to the Lord as the foundation of their security and confidence. Such people, whether sooner or later, find that their feet are standing on shifting sand (Matthew 7:24–27).
Nevertheless, as inhabitants of this world, it takes real courage for us to risk everything on the promises of God. At least those who hope in the promises of the world have something tangible and visible to bolster their confidence. But those who hope in God’s promises are staking their lives on what is not seen and what is not yet. (Romans 8:24–25). This is why the Word directly links faith to hope by describing faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).