Dave's Diary

Daily Reading: Zechariah 9:9-17

Because next Sunday is Palm Sunday and our focus will fall on Jesus’ fulfilment of this prophecy from Zechariah, it would be easy to focus almost entirely on v.9 when we read today’s passage. That’s the part of the prophecy that Jesus very obviously fulfilled on that glorious day in Jerusalem as He entered it riding on a donkey. But for today’s devotional let’s focus instead on one line from the section of this prophecy that describes the effect of this Coming King’s ministry. It’s a command from God to His people – a command based on His promise to bring restoration through the Coming King: “Return to your fortress, O prisoners of hope!” (v.12)

In this world, which is so filled with hopelessness, the Lord Jesus Christ has given His disciples the freedom to choose not to be prisoners of hopelessness. As His disciples, He has given us the freedom to be a prisoners of hope instead – to be “imprisoned” and therefore sheltered in a “fortress of hope”. So, as His disciples, we are called to not allow our circumstances to imprison us in hopelessness (no matter how difficult they may be). Rather, we are invited to return to our Fortress and be a “prisoner of hope”. Today, let your faith in Jesus take you “captive” in a fortress of hope.

In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, the Jewish psychiatrist Victor Frankl comes to possibly his most enduring insight when, having reflected deeply on his experiences in Auschwitz, he concludes that forces beyond one’s control can take away everything you possess, except one thing: The freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation. He wrote that one cannot control what happens to one in life, but one can always control what one does with what happens to you, and how you approach it.

In this world, which is so shrouded with hopelessness, God says to His people today: Return to the King, Jesus, for He is your Fortress of Hope. Remember that the Biblical understanding of “hope” is “joyful and expectant confidence in God and His salvation”. Hope is joyful and expectant confidence in God to fulfilfil His promises of provision, protection, healing, rescue and deliverance, even in the midst of doubts and fears and pains. Hope is not wishful thinking, and it is not blind optimism. Hope is joyful and expectant confidence in God Himself.

To “return to my fortress of hope” is to be intentional about deepening my relationship with King Jesus every day so that He can bring me to a place of such trust in Him as my Lord that my heart is firmly secured against any hopelessness.

Lord Jesus, my King of Hope, I surrender to You. Please ‘imprison’ me in Yourself, for You are my Fortress of Hope in this dark and hopeless world. Amen.