There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will
not be cut off. – Proverbs 23:18
Maybe you wonder sometimes, “What’s the use? Why try? What difference does my obedience make?
It’s important that we consider our proverb for today
along with the one that comes just before it: “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear
of the Lord” (Proverbs 23:17).
Doesn’t it often seem that people who live without God in
the world live best? And why is it that many who have no conscience sleep
better at night?
Even if that seems true in the present, God’s Word
assures us that the only sure of blessing in the future is with God. And that means not just tomorrow or next week
or next year, but forever. Our reading from Proverbs today reminds us that
running after pleasures today will ruin us, but with God we have the
future, no one but GOD can guarantee it. To
have a future hope is a gift to the wise, those who revere, love and serve God.
Our hope is that we live for God and with
God forever, through Christ, our Lord. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we
profess, for He who promised it is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23). Hope in God
for the future is the only thing that can make the present secure.
