You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
Parliament and the opposition candidate, we went back to the<br />
planning committee and this time won our new application on a<br />
unanimous 9-0 vote! We had been disappointed <strong>by</strong> the loss of the<br />
first application, but it had been God’s way of outworking his bigger,<br />
better plan.<br />
Now of course not every circumstance works out so well. Life is full<br />
of setbacks; those situations that we had ‘hoped’ would turn out<br />
differently. This is where an eternal perspective, an ‘alive beyond<br />
death’ hope is so helpful. In the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: ‘We<br />
must accept finite disappointment…but we must never lose infinite<br />
hope.’ 9 PAUSE AND PONDER<br />
What are the dreams you had hoped for? Don’t give up on<br />
them; rather, commit them to the Lord. Ask for his grace to<br />
persevere and for his plan to unfold in the right time.<br />
Don’t allow your sense of disappointment to prevent you<br />
from expecting God to work in your life. Is it possible that<br />
your desire to see God moving in a particular way has<br />
blinded you to the possibility that he might be doing so in<br />
some other way?<br />
2. OPEN OUR BIBLES: GOD SPEAKS TO US<br />
THROUGH THE SCRIPTURES<br />
What’s remarkable about this story is what didn’t happen: Jesus<br />
didn’t appear with a display of his splendour, announcing his<br />
triumphant resurrection. Rather, he came in a very ordinary way – as<br />
a ‘stranger’, as one who simply walked and talked with these two<br />
disciples. This is in direct contrast to, for example, the later account
Change language