At the start of this new year, I'm guessing most of us are feeling hopeful. It is a time when we look backward and forward, taking stock of where we’ve been and where we’re heading. But within these reflections, what if we find ourselves in what feels like a holding place similar to that described by the prophet Zechariah as a fortress?

“Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you”.  (Zechariah 9:12 NIV)

We can, at times, be too quick to move forward—moving ahead of ourselves and more dangerously, moving ahead of God’s plans and purposes for us.

This verse in Zechariah pierced my heart at a time when I was in a hurry to see freedom, healing, and restoration for myself and others around me. I asked God, day in and day out, for breakthroughs and the fulfillment of His promises.

The more I pondered on Zechariah’s words, the more I understood that I, too, was held captive to hope. It suddenly made so much sense to me—there are times, events, and seasons in our lives that require us, just like the Apostle Paul, to know what it is to be content in confinement or restriction for a period of time while hope is at work.

I believe there are times when God holds us in a fortress, placing us under some kind of house arrest while this hope is at work in the seen and the unseen of our pleas and petitions. And I am grateful for the assurance that this holding place is a safe space – a fortress, a place where we can be held secure until the fullness of hope made manifest releases us to a place of restoration.

This verse reinforces hope in our lives with the affirmed promise that the Lord will restore twice as much as we may have lost.

At the onset of this new year, I would like to encourage us all to hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, while that same hope holds us safe and secure until the fullness of restoration is ready to be worked out in our lives and situations; for He who promised us is faithful! 

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Scripture is quoted from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.