SCRIPTURE
“As for you, because of the blood of My covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, all prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.” Zechariah 9:11 and 12
SPOTLIGHT
A man walked across the park to watch a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind." The spectator responded, "I'll bet you're discouraged." "Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!" That little boy understood what it was to be a prisoner of hope. Regardless of the score, his team was still going to get up to bat sometime.
Are you a prisoner? Probably you are not incarcerated in a physical prison for some crime. However, you may be a prisoner of your past, present or future. You are being held captive! You can be bound by regret over previous times. Maybe your present-day living is filled with pain, and misery. Perhaps you feel you are in jail because you fear the future. Whatever prison you are in, God gives hope. Why not consider becoming a prisoner of hope? What is going to hold you captive? Will it be past regret, present misery, and future fear, or will it be the God of hope? Paul prayed in Romans 15:13, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy, and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” David testified, “Guide me in Your truth and teach me, for You are God my Savior, and my hope is in You all day long.” [Psalm 25:5,21].
Zechariah and Haggai were prophets who ministered in the same time period, 16 years after the Jewish remnant returned to Jerusalem. The Jews had been held in captivity for 70 years in Babylon. The remnant’s zeal and enthusiasm to rebuild the temple was great at the beginning, but had been set aside because of difficulties, trouble and sorrow. Read the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Haggai had challenged the people to once again honor God by putting Him first, rather than themselves. They had said yes and began rebuilding the temple. The younger prophet, Zechariah, gave an encouraging message about God’s love and care for His people. His prophetic teaching focused on the glory that would once again be restored to Israel, because God was always faithful to keep His promises.
In the above Scripture text, God is specifically telling the Israelites, through Zechariah’s preaching, that they may feel like they are in a waterless pit. That is where a prisoner was put. It was a deep cistern that was bottle shaped with a narrow opening at the top. No water, no food, no help, and no hope! What a graphic picture. But God reminds them of the covenant He had made to love and care for them. This unbelievable promise dated back to Noah and the rainbow that followed the flood, followed by Abraham, who was called by God to create a new nation, and then to Moses leading Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. Because of that commitment, in this verse, God reminded the Jews that He would restore them not just once, but twice. They were in for a double blessing. Though the Jewish remnant felt like they were pit prisoners, they could choose to be prisoners of hope, and not despair. God’s covenant meant He would keep His word to be their Savior, Shepherd, Provider, etc.
Do you ever feel like you are in a deep prison pit without any sign of help and no feeling of hope? Joseph was thrown into a pit by his jealous brothers. [Genesis 37:21-24]. Jeremiah was thrown into a pit for preaching God’s truth. [Jeremiah 38:6-13]. For both of these men, life seemed hopeless because they had no water and faced starvation. They were prisoners of death. God delivered both of them because He is the covenant keeping God. You do not have to be a prisoner, hopelessly caught in misery. You do not have to be confined by the chains and walls of your past, present, or future. When hope is gone and you are a prisoner of your circumstances, what is left? That is when you say someone has lost hope. When hope dies that is when the heart fails. God invites you to become a prisoner of hope. Do not believe that life is over. God reminds you of His covenant to love and care for you. Your circumstances can appear to be hopeless, but God promises to free you, and bless you in the future. Of course, you do not deserve to be delivered, or blessed, but God has made a covenant with anyone who loves Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
BECOME A PRISONER OF HOPE. Isaiah 60:1,2 is your invitation to cast off hopelessness and begin living a life of hopefulness. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you, and His glory appears over you.” Paul was a prisoner bound in chains, yet was far from hopeless. He expressed a bright future. [Acts 26:6,7; 28:20]. At another time, Joseph became a prisoner for being righteous and noble when he fled from Potiphar’s wife, who tried to seduce him. Let it be noted, that God was with him, and blessed him, because he chose to be a prisoner of hope. [Genesis 39:20,21].
It is time for you to live as a prisoner of hope, rather than a prisoner of the past, present, or future. Your past may be horrid, but you can be healed. Your present may be bleak, but you can be blessed. You may be bound, but you will be liberated. You are a prisoner of hope, because your eyes are on the God of hope, Who promises deliverance, safety and victory. This is all true because you are in covenant with God. “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” [Romans 5:5].
Gary Thomas wrote about a very powerful woman who surprised the world because she was a prisoner of hope. It was at the time of the death of her husband, when the eyes of her nation and the world were on her. “As Vice President, George Bush represented the U.S. at the funeral of former Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, Bush was deeply moved by a silent protest carried out by Brezhnev's widow. She stood motionless by the coffin until seconds before it was closed. Then, just as the soldiers touched the lid, Brezhnev's wife performed an act of great courage and hope, a gesture that must surely rank as one of the most profound acts of civil disobedience ever committed; she reached down and made the sign of the cross on her husband's chest.
There in the citadel of secular, atheistic power, the wife of the man who had run it all, hoped that her husband was wrong. She hoped that there was another life, and that that life was best represented by Jesus, who died on the cross, and that the same Jesus might yet have mercy on her husband.” [Gary Thomas, in Christianity Today, October 3, 1994, p.26.]
You no longer have to be a hopeless prisoner to people, or circumstances when you choose to trust God. You can become a prisoner of hope, because God gives hope. He is present with you at all times. “My life is in You, Lord, my strength is in You, Lord, my hope is in You, Lord. It’s in You. It’s in You, I’ll praise You with all of my heart, I’ll praise You with all of my strength, all of my heart. All of my strength, all of my hope is in You!” God is hope, and God gives hope, so you can BECOME A PRISONER OF HOPE.
SOMETHING TO DO
The Holy Spirit births hope in your spirit when you are convinced that God is with you, will not leave you, and will work for you. Ask yourself these questions:
#1. What steps can I take today to begin to live as a prisoner of hope, rather than a prisoner of hopelessness?
#2. What attitudes do I need to ask God to change?
#3. What behavior needs to change?
#4. Who do I need to spend more time with, and what friends do I need to spend less time with?
#5. Who do I need to share this message of God’s hope with today?
SOUL TIME PRAYER
Heavenly Father, Almighty God, Who has made a covenant to love and care for me, I would ask that You, Who are the God of hope, would fill me with all joy and peace as I trust in You, so that I may overflow with hope because of the power of the Holy Spirit within me. AMEN!