“Look, I am about to die,” Esau said. “What good is the birthright to me?” (Gen. 25:32)
Ravensbruck was a dreaded Nazi concentration camp where less than half of the prisoners survived. Lice, fleas, disease, moldy bread, hard labor, strip searches, and suffocating living conditions choked out hope—except in Barracks 28. Unhindered by guards who feared their fleas, the prisoners sang hymns and read Scripture together. In her book The Hiding Place, Corrie ten Boom describes how God’s Word sustained her in the face of certain death: “I would look about us as Betsie read, watching the light leap from face to face. . . .We are more than conquerors. Not ‘we shall be.’ We are!” (The Hiding Place, p. 195).
Jesus declared, “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). God had made a promise to sustain Esau and form a nation from him (see Gen. 24:23). However, Esau’s lack of faith led him to prioritize his immediate desires over his God-given destiny. If only Esau had faith in God’s word, he would not have feared death!
It is always easier to see our immediate problems than our eternal destiny. Wasting away in a Nazi concentration camp, Corrie could have easily given up on her God-given destiny. Instead, she continually refueled her hope by recalling God’s promises.
Regardless of what problems you are facing today, take time to remember God’s good promises to you.
Refuel your hope by recalling God’s promises.
Tamar Eisenmann and her husband are Wesleyan pastors from Jackson, Michigan. She is a Wesley Seminary doctoral student and a fan of Transformers, her kids, and Jesus.
© 2021 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
