As for you, if you redirect your heart and lift up your hands to Him in prayer—if there is iniquity in your hand, remove it, and don’t allow injustice to dwell in your tents—then you will hold your head high, free from fault. You will be firmly established and unafraid. For you will forget your suffering, recalling it only as waters that have flowed by. Your life will be brighter than noonday; its darkness will be like the morning. You will be confident, because there is hope. You will look carefully about and lie down in safety. —Job 13-18 HCSB
Reflect
Hope is a result of a redirection of the heart. We can get engrossed in ourselves, and when that happens, it creates a ripple effect of chaos. We can get caught up in sin, worry, stress, depression, and addiction. When we look to anything but our Heavenly Father, our hearts become misdirected, and we begin to cope in unhealthy ways, such as escaping in social media, alcohol, overspending, and overeating. When we redirect ourselves to the ultimate healer however, we get a result that no thing or person can give us: hope.
Redirection is a choice to be proactive. Redirection requires consistent prayer. Verse 13 states we must lift our hands to God in prayer. In that prayer, there must be a repentant heart. We must also not allow sin to dwell within us. As a result of a sinful lifestyle, ultimately we distance ourselves from God.
As a result of redirection, our hope comes from the Lord and not from anything else. We gain a holy confidence and inner peace that will be constantly sustained. Circumstances change, but the Lord never will, and knowing this brings peace, comfort and happiness and hope in the midst of the darkness surrounding any circumstance.
Make the choice to redirect your heart today, remove any iniquities that you may be dealing with, and turn them over to the cross.
Pray
Lord, I lift my hands in humble praise as I thank you for the gift of redemption. Please examine my heart and reveal to me any area where I have been placing my hope in the wrong things, and need to redirect my heart. Thank you for the hope and peace that only You can provide.
Your Turn
Is there anything you tend to resort to as far as “escaping life”? (i.e. binge watching, social media)
Do you tend to place your hope in the wrong things?
Meet Chelsi Woods // Image by @karliepickett via #wholemagazine
