Daily Devotional June 6 - Where is your hope?

"But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more." Psalm 71:14

The writer of this Psalm has been through a great deal in His life. That's where I'm at too. I have seen a great deal; injustice, unfaithfulness, terrorism, depression, fear and anxiety; people working jobs they hate, living with people they don't love, raising children without proper preparation, trying to be something they are not to impress people. This world is a mixed up place, yet I have hope.

My hope is in what God will do with all this mixed up mess. My hope is in what God is going to do with me while I'm here. My hope is in how God transforms lives by His grace. My hope is in the work that the Holy Spirit does in people's hearts. My hope is in God.

I praise God for the hope I have. I praise Him more and more. Even though from one point of view it seems that mankind has continually gotten worse and worse and it is apparent that the end times are getting closer and closer, I still praise God for what He is doing, even in this difficult time. Can you praise God in your situation? Can you see that God has already gone ahead and worked it out so that you can have hope in your future? Do you give God praise through your trials and tribulations?

Just like bigger gardens require harder work than little gardens, so do bigger problems require more praise than little problems. God doesn't want you begging Him to get you out of it, God wants you prasing Him through it.