I (Debi) saw this posted on a church’s street-side sign: “Hope is hearing the melody of the future.”
Now brace yourself, because I’m going to sum up my reaction to it in one word: “Blech.”
That quote is yet another example of the ubiquitous inspirational drivel that’s supposed to somehow empower us to carry on and be happy amid the storms of life because rain helps flowers grow and rainbows sparkle and unicorns frolic and blah blah blah.
When the storms of life come, inspirational quotes won’t get you through. When you’re hit with shattering circumstances or faltering under the weight of soul-crushing burdens, happy thoughts and cute cliches are but cotton candy: pretty to look at but void of nutrition.
Stock your spiritual pantry with solid stuff — soul-nourishing, substantial, in-it-for-the-long-haul goods from God’s Word. Here are some of my staples for stressful times:
–”The LORD will accomplish everything that concerns me” (Psalm 138:8).
–”I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).
–”The LORD has established His throne in the heavens, and His sovereignty rules over all” (Psalm 103:19).
–”Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).
–”Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (2 Corinthians 1:3-4).
My spiritual shelves are stacked high and deep with meaty words like these.
Are yours?
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