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7 Promises – I Have Hope
We made it! We are on to the next section of our “7 Promises Bible Study” Series. To start back at the beginning, click here!
A quick reminder of how this Bible Study works. Each week I will post my own study on the selected reading. I will walk you through my thought process on deciphering God’s Word using a word study focus.
I encourage you to join in on this Bible Study! You can participate in many different ways.
- Complete the Bible Study and post your reflections in the comments
- Read through my reflection and comment on your thoughts and feelings
- Help me to answer my questions!
I Have Hope
In my first reading of this scripture, the following words jumped out to me:
- ashamed
- wantonly
- hope
The phrase “none who wait for you” prompted me with the following question: What are we waiting for?
Ashamed: embarrassed or guilty because of one’s actions, characteristics, or associations
This word stood out to me because I had always associated ashamed with embarrassed, I wondered if in the context of this scripture it could take on a different meaning. I found it very intriguing that it could also mean embarrassed or guilty because of one’s associations. This means that you can be guilty because of those you surround yourself with. Many years ago I came upon the phrase “those who you surround yourself with, you become.” Putting this into the context of this scripture, it is not just telling US not be treacherous, but also to avoid being around others who are as well! This is such a good life lesson, be picky with those you associate with.
Wantonly: in a deliberate and unprovoked way
I am a HUGE Disney movie fan. The absolute WORST phrase in a Disney movie, in my opinion, is “you deliberately disobeyed me.” It’s similar to the phrase “I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.” You can just feel the intense emotion in those words. Being deliberately treacherous is so harsh! I reflected in I’m Forgiven Part One that the promise of God’s steadfast love gives me comfort because no matter how much I mess up, I am forgiven. However, if we deliberately disobey God’s word, we forsake Him! How selfish to think our sin is worth that. Despite this, there is still hope.
Hope: a feeling of expectations and desire for a certain thing to happen; a person or thing that may help or save someone; grounds for believing something good can happen
The theme of this next section of our Bible Study is Hope, so it only makes sense that we define it. When looking up the definitions, there were just too many to choose from! I feel that they all apply in a wonderful way.
I love the idea of a feeling of expectation. Just thinking about it makes my stomach go into butterflies! I feel excited and almost giddy. One thing I love about Bible Studies is that it really helps me feel closer to God. I could really feel God’s warmth wrap around me when thinking about the hope He gives me. He is hope. He is the person or thing that can help and save us. How could that not bring a smile to your face!!
Question: What are we waiting for?
To help me answer this question, I decided to look at different translations of Psalms 25:3. In the NIV version the phrase “none who wait for you” becomes “no one who hopes in you.” Aha! There’s hope again! No one who hopes in God will be put to shame. Adding in my new knowledge of the word hope, I take this to me that as long as we believe in God and desire to be close to him, we can have faith and trust in Him.
Next week we will see the phrase “wait for Him” appear again. I took a deep dive to discover why some translations of the Bible use wait, while others use hope. Come back next week to see what I found!
Hope
It seems fitting that the word Hope would capture the essence of this passage. We should always remember to celebrate and thank God in times of good, happiness, success. However, we can have peace of mind knowing that we can put our trust in His promises. We will always have hope when we have faith in God!