California pastor advises all to put our hope in God in tough times: ‘Don’t give up’
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“Thus says the Lord: ‘Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed’” (Isaiah 56:1).
This verse comes from 56th chapter of the Book of Isaiah, one of the latter prophets in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
Isaiah, whose name means “the Lord saves,” is sometimes referred to as the “prince of prophets,” said the website Bible Study Tools.
It is unclear if Isaiah actually wrote the entirety of the Book of Isaiah. The events in it are believed to have occurred about seven centuries prior to the birth of Christ.
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In the verse, “God is speaking a promise to his people in a time of great discouragement,” Pastor Chris Fraley told Fox News Digital.
Fraley is senior pastor of Wildwood Calvary Chapel, located in Yucaipa, California.
Gods message to His discouraged followers in the Book of Isaiah is relevant even in todays world, said Pastor Chris Fraley. (iStock/Pastor Chris Fraley)
When God’s people were looking at what was happening at the time of the Book of Isaiah, “they don’t see any reason to live righteously and to keep justice,” said Fraley.
“God steps in and encourages them through his prophet to live with the anticipation that he is working and that salvation is coming,” he said.
“He reminds them that his righteousness will be revealed.”
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This serves as a lesson to “don’t give up because of what you see” — but rather to “keep going because of what is to come.”
This verse is relevant in the present day, “where two worldviews are clashing,” said Fraley.
It can be very challenging to view life through the lens of God’s Word, said Pastor Fraley of Yucaipa, California. (iStock)
“One is a secular worldview where the line of morality is always adjusting to the culture,” he said. The other “is a biblical worldview where the authority for right and wrong is God’s Word.”
He added, “For the child of God, everything must be looked at within our world through the lens of God’s Word.”
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This way of life can prove challenging, as not everyone lives through this lens.
“When things get bad, don’t let what you see discourage you. Let it move you to look up to the One who can grant hope to you.”
“We can lose hope,” said Fraley. “We might ask ourselves, ‘Why is the world falling apart? Where is God in all this? Why is he allowing such horrific sin to continue?’”
This, he explained, is “what the people were struggling with in Isaiah’s day.”
It can be easy to fall into despair when the world seems to be falling apart, said Pastor Fraley — but have faith that God will come through on his promises. (iStock)
“The Lord reminds his people, ‘Don’t give up because of what you see in the world around you, the injustice, the depravity. Know that I am working, I am watching, and one day soon salvation will come,’” he said.
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And while salvation may not be arriving in the near future, a child of God trusts that “it will come in our distant future,” said Fraley, “when he calls us home, to our eternal home.”
The message to remain steadfast in the hope of salvation is echoed in the New Testament, said Fraley, when Luke wrote that Jesus told his followers to “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
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“When things get bad, don’t let what you see discourage you,” said Fraley.
“Let it move you to look up to the One who can grant hope to you.”
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