Read Hebrews 6:17–19

I confess to you, at times I’ve doubted God’s purpose and promise. I say that to my own embarrassment. When things hadn’t worked as I thought they would, when I received a no instead of a yes as an answer to prayer, when I couldn’t unravel a situation and match it with the character of God...those have been times when I’ve said, “I know down inside this isn’t right.”

Yet in such times there are benefits that come from going back to God’s Word to study it again, putting on your theological cap:

God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence as we hold to the hope that lies before us. This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. (Hebrews 6:17–19)

Encouragement is the opposite of discouragement. Hope is the opposite of despair. When you accept the fact that sometimes seasons are dry and times are hard and that God is in control of both, you will discover a sense of divine refuge, because the hope is then in God and not in yourself.

We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. (Romans 5:3–5)

In those seasons when it’s difficult to see God’s purpose and promise, remember where your hope and encouragement are found—in the person and purposes of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Devotional content taken from Good Morning, Lord...Can We Talk? by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2018. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, a Division of Tyndale House Ministries. All rights reserved.

The full devotional can be purchased at https://www.tyndale.com/p/good-morning-lord-can-we-talk/9781414380681.