For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Romans 14:17.

As for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7.

Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you. Isaiah 46:4.

The “songs of ascent” (Psalms 120-134) are remarkable because they remind us who Creator God – Father, Son, Spirit, is. And this final one is only 3 verses long and yet that’s all it took to praise God. Psalm 134: Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord who minister by night in the house of the Lord. Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord. May the Lord bless you from Zion, He who is Maker of heaven and earth.

When things look grim in this world of us, it’s good to remember where my hope lies and it does not and cannot lie in this world and its systems and way of being. The way of calamity and confusion clouding everything good. Why are lies so attractive to us? Why are we drawn to them as a moth to a flame? Remember the first lie? Do we still believe it? Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:1-5. Satan’s conversation of lies to Eve. What did God say to Adam? Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there He put the man He had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground – trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:8-9, 15-17.

Where is my hope? In God’s truth. He is the One who rescues and saves and redeems us from all of the lies and confusion and idolatry of this world steeped in the knowledge of good and evil. Are you tired of the evil of this world? Turn to our God, Creator of heaven and earth. He will never lie to you.