Field of Hope
Have you ever felt as if you’re smack in the middle of chaos? You know, nothing seems to be going right. Everywhere you turn, things fall apart. Something you were waiting and hoping for just fell through. Regardless of the situation or what is going on, you may feel as if your life just took a nosedive. You feel shattered. Yeah, I’m right there with you.
However, though we may feel as if our lives are out of control, they really aren’t. Oh sure, it seems that way on our end, but from where God is looking everything is going along right on schedule and He sees the beautiful outcome. Personally, I sometimes wish He would let me in on what He sees so I can maybe not feel so much tension and stress… know what I mean?
You know, what I’ve learned in these situations is that it’s not for me (or you) to know or even understand. These situations where the stress and tension are high, the heartbreak can give a large reading on the Richter Scale and someone just turned off the oxygen supply in the room where you’re sitting are just exercises for us to lean more heavily and more prominently on the LORD. These are for us to learn to trust Him in every aspect of our lives.
Yes, it feels as if your heart is going to shatter into a million pieces. Yes, it feels as if no one understands and maybe they even voice that to you, which breaks your heart even further. Yes, you are starting to wonder if even God loves you or even remembers you’re still here waiting for Him to do something… anything! Yet, He seems silent.
Trust me… God is anything but silent.
Oh, dear lovely siblings, God is right where He’s always been and you and I are right where He wants us to be. If you’ll stop for a moment with me and look around and even look up, I know we will find that He has led us straight into a field of hope where He is whispering to us, “Wait.”
That may be the hardest thing for any of us to do. Yet it’s what He has asked us to do. Wait. He is working everything out for each of us. He is making sure things are going the way He planned. And the beautiful thing about it all is God has us stalled in the field of hope so as to keep us safe. Oh, maybe we don’t feel safe; we feel battered, bruised, abused, neglected, hurt, shattered and hopeless.
What in the world would God have us doing out in a field, out in the open where we are like sitting ducks, where the enemy can take pot shots at us and we have no cover? Actually, while we are in said field, our hope is in the LORD. While we pause to wait on Him, He has us covered with His wings, protecting us, hiding us. The enemy is confused because we ran out into a field… then stopped. However, he can’t touch us because we are protected beneath the shadow of the wings of the LORD.
Sounds like a fairytale doesn’t it? It’s not. Though we are in battle, we have found refuge. Like when playing tag… we are on Base and It can’t touch us.
In this time of battle, whatever it is we are battling, though we are a bit knocked around, scratched up, cracked, bruised, a little bloody here and there, we are still upright! Lovelies, we are still standing! So while we pause here in this field, catching our breath, it’s time to stand still… and wait.
Wait on the LORD. For in the waiting is our Hope. Remember, though the battle is real it is not ours. The battle is the LORD’s! He will fight this battle, whether He has us run headlong at the enemy, or whether He has us stand and wait. HE will fight for us and He will win the battle, therefore making us more than victorious over whatever situation we find ourselves in. Whether we caused ourselves to be put into the situation, or whether someone else threw us into it, GOD fights our battles and wins for us. And like I said, we come out victorious as well.
No matter what you’re going through today, look to the LORD for your refuge. Stand in the field of hope knowing the battle is already won and…
Wait.
Be Blessed,
Shelley
Shelley Wilburn is the author of Walking Healed and the Walking Healed Companion Bible study. You can find these books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Shelley also loves to hear from her readers. You can connect with Shelley through various social media, available at the links in the right margin, or email her at shelley@shelleywilburn.org.
