Merriam Webster defines hope as: to cherish a desire with anticipation to want something
to happen or be true
While I was in my daily prayer, anticipating the Gregorian New Year, the Lord spoke to my heart and I was sensing what the New Year would bring on a spiritual level. Some people are taking the 2020 thing literally and talking about seeing clearly. Well, we have 24/7 access to the Ruach HaKodesh which allows us to see clearly all the time. So, I don’t think that is the specific message this year.
What I sense is an expectation of hope that is loosed this year. It’s the Hebrew word: תוֹחֶלֶת , which means expectation, anticipation, and hope. We know our hope is in Messiah though that’s not exactly what I am referring to here. Because of Messiah’s redeeming work, I see families coming together. What is broken and separated is coming together in hope, providing an expectation of restoration and regeneration. What I am seeing are sons and daughters coming home, business partnerships coming together, Mother’s and Father’s becoming stronger, hope in the home, and hope in situations that seem hopeless.
Bible teacher, Henry Blackaby says, “After we pray, whatever happens next is God’s answer.” Wow, do we sometimes miss God’s loving response to our prayer because we don’t anticipate a reply? The Bible teaches us that believing is seeing-with our faith! “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1). We must believe in order to see God’s provisions.
Let me ask you what I often ask myself: “Do we simply hope God will answer our needs, or do we see God’s generous hand at work in our lives? Do you wait with expectancy or do you doubt His provision?”
He may seem slow at responding, but He’s always right on time. While it would be nice if God owned the same watch as we do, you and I can always count on His perfect timing. We can count on Him performing His Word. We will see God when we anticipate His involvement in our lives. We will see Him when we can say, “His answer and provision may come slow, but they are sure to come, and I will wait with expectation.”
This Isaiah Scripture gives us an idea of the anticipation and expectation I’m talking about for this year!
Isaiah 65:18-25 18 Look ahead with joy. Anticipate what I'm creating: I'll create Jerusalem as sheer joy, create my people as pure delight. 19 I'll take joy in Jerusalem, take delight in my people: No more sounds of weeping in the city, no cries of anguish; 20 No more babies dying in the cradle, or old people who don't enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal - anything less will seem like a cheat. 21 They'll build houses and move in. They'll plant fields and eat what they grow. 22 No more building a house that some outsider takes over, No more planting fields that some enemy confiscates, For my people will be as long-lived as trees, my chosen ones will have satisfaction in their work. 23 They won't work and have nothing come of it, they won't have children snatched out from under them. For they themselves are plantings blessed by God, with their children and grandchildren likewise blessed by God. 24 Before they call out, I'll answer. Before they've finished speaking, I'll have heard. 25 Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow, lion and ox eat straw from the same trough, but snakes - they'll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill anywhere on my Holy Mountain," says God. [1]
This passage begins by telling us to look ahead with joy. When we are waiting in expectation, shouldn’t we be joyful, knowing God is faithful to keep His Word? He tells us to expect and anticipate what He is creating. He is speaking specifically here about Jerusalem and of His people.
If we have accepted the atoning sacrifice of Yeshua, and do His will, then we are His people. He says there will be no sounds of sorrow or anguish. He says the babies will live and not die and he says those who are getting older will enjoy a full lifetime.
Pray that we will all be like Moses, when he was 120 years old, his eye did not dim nor his strength diminish. He was strong not feeble. He says we will build houses and plant fruit producing crops and partake of the fruit. He says we will have satisfaction in our work. That’s a huge blessing. There will be rewards for our work and that the enemy will not steal our children. Our children and grandchildren will be blessed by God! He says BEFORE we call out to Him, He will answer and BEFORE we finish speaking He will have heard. Wow! What promises we have in the anticipation and expectation of Him. He says the wolf and lamb will graze together or lie down together symbolic of the Messianic Age to come.
Whatever it is you have been waiting for….and it seems bleak to you, wait with joy, wait in expectation and anticipation. Make a choice to believe that God is working all things together for good—for you.
Abba Father, I thank you for your Word that you are faithful to perform it. I thank you for all the people who have been waiting for…..that you have heard the cry BEFORE and that as we wait with expectation and anticipation, you will see to it…Adonai Yireh, and it will come to pass in 2020. Amen.
[1] (The Message (MSG) Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
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