“I’m no longer a slave to fear,
I am a child of God”
As has happened many times in the past, we find ourselves in a series that seems to be speaking very directly to where I find myself in this season of life. Reminders and clarity on who God says I am and letting that, and only that, shape my identity and sense of worth, have been very needed for me personally. I thought the song whose lyrics are quoted in part above was a very appropriate choice this past Sunday as we discussed that as children of God, we are also considered heirs. I don’t know about you, but for me, I find myself living as though I’m still enslaved, someone bound to stay in the same stagnant position, doing the same things over and over, rather than someone empowered by God and worthy of receiving a great and holy inheritance.
There’s a verse in Proverbs that says hope deferred makes the heart sick, and over the course of the last few years it has seemed many times, that every time I would begin to feel hope rise in me for different reasons, that hope was quickly dashed and ended in hurt or disappointment. In Genesis, we read of Hagar, betrayed by those closest to her, rejected and cast out with her young son. At her most desperate moment, when she is certain her son will die and she will likely not be far behind, God is moved with compassion for them and provides water in the barren desert. Earlier, Hagar had given God the name “El Roi”; the God who sees me. Now years later, when she felt the least seen and the least loved, God still is faithful to provide. The verse I referenced earlier states that even though hope deferred can make a heart sick, that a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Be encouraged, friends. Even when we struggle to break out of unhealthy thought patterns; even when we feel alone and thirsty in a dry land; even when we feel rejected and unworthy, we are SEEN by a God who deems us worthy enough to be called HEIRS, who knows all that we hope for with tears in secret and who longs to fulfill our dreams and see our lives flourish like mighty oaks.
