"Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;"
Zechariah 9:12
"Prisoners of hope" is a cool and interesting line. I was trying to figure it out this morning, and I am thinking that we become prisoners of hope sometimes when we are hoping for something that doesn't happen for a very long time. Being a prisoner to something isn't necessarily bad here... I think it might just mean that it rules our lives, and we live by it. ... Which is good. If we're slaves or prisoners of anyone, we are of God... but by choice, not compulsion.
This verse is in a long series of verses talking about the coming of the Messiah, so the word hope here seems attached to that... hope in God, that he will come and fulfill all his promises. He has fulfilled some, and will fulfill the rest... basically granting us all that we have hoped for. Meanwhile we wait. And sometimes waiting is hard. We see wickedness around us, and injustice, and so many things that are wrong, and we wonder how long God will let it happen, waiting for that day when God will make everything right. And it isn't bad at all to hope for that, but if we really are prisoners of hope, then let's act like it... let's live by that hope, and help it come to pass. Let's make the world better, and serve that hope every day until we are blessed to see its fulfillment.
Today, let's be prisoners of hope, trapped in looking forward to that love and peace and world-uniting influence that Christ will bring. And maybe while we're waiting, we could do some uniting of our own.
Zechariah 9:12
"Prisoners of hope" is a cool and interesting line. I was trying to figure it out this morning, and I am thinking that we become prisoners of hope sometimes when we are hoping for something that doesn't happen for a very long time. Being a prisoner to something isn't necessarily bad here... I think it might just mean that it rules our lives, and we live by it. ... Which is good. If we're slaves or prisoners of anyone, we are of God... but by choice, not compulsion.
This verse is in a long series of verses talking about the coming of the Messiah, so the word hope here seems attached to that... hope in God, that he will come and fulfill all his promises. He has fulfilled some, and will fulfill the rest... basically granting us all that we have hoped for. Meanwhile we wait. And sometimes waiting is hard. We see wickedness around us, and injustice, and so many things that are wrong, and we wonder how long God will let it happen, waiting for that day when God will make everything right. And it isn't bad at all to hope for that, but if we really are prisoners of hope, then let's act like it... let's live by that hope, and help it come to pass. Let's make the world better, and serve that hope every day until we are blessed to see its fulfillment.
Today, let's be prisoners of hope, trapped in looking forward to that love and peace and world-uniting influence that Christ will bring. And maybe while we're waiting, we could do some uniting of our own.
Every day ( usually twice a day) I always see the clock at precisely 9:12. This has been going on for years and years, but today I decided to look it up. It was interesting to me because I am waiting hopeful for Jesus to come back.
ReplyDeleteThere's a bunch off 9-12's. Why Did you go to Zechariah?
DeleteThanks for writing. :) I usually notice the clock at 9:18 every day. I think that it is cool that someone else in the world has a similar quirk. ... I am so glad that you thought the scripture was interesting, and that you are hopeful too. :)
ReplyDelete