From the Hayward church of Christ Bulletin

God Will Give You What You Have Hoped For

  Allowing someone to believe they have something they do not possess is one of the worst deceptions. I remember the hurt of those who invested their money with Bernie Madoff. Only to find out the figures he was sending them were inaccurate and their money was long gone. Unfortunately, some men and women find out their love interests are using them. The love they thought they shared wasn’t real. The most destructive of them all is what happens to children. Some parents neatly wrap a Christmas gift in a box that portrays the gift their child wants, only for the child to open it up and find what they need, undergarments and socks.

 This deception is not uncommon in Scripture. The question to ask is, did Eve truly get what she hoped for after dealing with Satan? “Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 4:3-5). The New Testament tells us that Eve was deceived. “And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression” (1 Timothy 2:14). Eve did not get what she had hoped for from Satan. On the contrary, she received pain. When dealing with the Devil and snake-like personalities, we are always at a loss.

 Our relationship with God started with unconditional love. No bait is attached to God’s love. What can God take from you since he has given you everything? And since we love Him in return, he has given us all a hope to long for and never forget. “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (2 Corinthians 5:1). As a child of God, you have the blessed assurance that what you are hoping for is actually there. Don’t be scared by the deception of Satan and others in the world. Be encouraged that God will give you what you have hoped for.  As good as some of our parents are and were, know that God is better. As Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7:11).

Courtney Henderson   Publ. April 2, 2022