Hope for the Future
The Fourth Sunday in Lent
There is hope for your future,” says the Lord. ~ Jeremiah 31:17a (NLT)
His neighbors and others who knew him as a blind beggar asked each other, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?” ~ John 9:8 (NLT)
KEY IDEA:
The Lord gives us hope for the future.
PRAYER:
Lord, I'm so grateful that you're concerned about the future. Like many of my neighbors, I live for today. But unlike them, I do it because the future scares me. I hear the crazy things that our leaders say and the way that people with money and responsibility act. Those things do not instill confidence about what is coming. Help me to rest in your promises and to trust that you are full of healing. We need it. I need it. In Jesus' name, Amen.
TRANSLATIONS
ABP = Authorized Boydston Paraphrase — my own freestyle biblical adaptation — somewhere between paraphrase, commentary, and sermon
CEB = Common English Bible (©2011, the Common English Bible)
CEV = Contemporary English Version (©1995, American Bible Society)
MSG = The Message (©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson)
NIRV = New International Reader's Version (©1996, 1998, Biblica)
NIV = New International Version (©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011, Biblica)
NLT = New Living Translation (©1996, 2004, 2007, 2013, Tyndale House Foundation)
