As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you, I will free your prisoners from the waterless pit. Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you. Zechariah 9:11–12 NIV

This week in Bible Study Fellowship (BSF), we worked through chapter nine in Zechariah and two more. Rereading our loving Father’s message through His prophet always augments my appreciation for God’s promises.

I forget that I dwell in a different fortress than the one I tend to build for myself. In the past several weeks, I’ve placed myself in one of those waterless pits that dry up all hope. That confining ‘cell’ is called “Maria needs to control X, Y, Z in her life.”

For instance, regarding processes in my body that I’ll delicately call elimination issues, the Holy Spirit has gently thwarted all my obsessive attempts to get results. Then there have been a few people whose feelings or interactions with me I have actually thought I could affect. You might have similar areas in your life you try to micromanage, too.

But through some good, logical counsel and Scripture, I am seeing for the umpteenth time how I need to hand over, to offload, all these issues to the One who can do something. For here are the facts: God created my body. He knows best how to keep it in good working order. He also placed me in a family and among friends for His purposes and my greatest good. He has promised that if I depend on Him, He will guide me the right way. I ‘should’ know better by now that I can only control my thoughts and my reactions.

As I remind myself daily, the Father has given me His Spirit, who acts with power on my behalf. This same Spirit reassures me of God’s unchanging love for me. So too does He bless me as I read Scripture so I can conform my thoughts to His truth.

No, I am not a prisoner of despair and hopelessness called “No Exit.” I am NOT trapped.

Rather, I belong and live securely, safely in union with Christ, a happy, hedged-in-by-Love daughter of my Father in His Kingdom of Hope.

As someone has said, of all people, Christians should always be overflowing with sure hope.