Changi Chapel

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. (Deuteronomy 8:3, Matthew 4:4)

When our bodies need energy, we know that we need to eat. No energy, no going on.
This physical phenomenon mirrors a spiritual reality. Our souls also run on a kind of energy, and so require a sort of food that they convert into that energy.
So what do our souls eat?

Before we answer that question, let’s first ask this: what is the energy that animates the soul? Answer: hope.

Our souls are hope machines. We consume hope every day. And when we run low on hope we start feeling discouraged, even desperate.

All the wonderful things that have happened to us in the past will not fuel our hope if our future looks bleak. We can be grateful for the past. But we must have hope for the future in order to keep going.

When were hopeful, the world is full of wonder and possibilities. We have drive and curiosity. We dont want to waste our lives. We take on challenges and see adversity as something to be overcome.

But when we run low on hope, the world becomes a fearful, threatening place, full of chaotic futility. Hopelessness saps us of desire and drive. It robs us of interest and appetite. We just want to curl up and protect our souls. Today, we call this experience depression. The Bible diagnoses it as hopelessness.

Note the psalmist’s prescription for his depression: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. (Psalm 43:5)

Hope in God. If our souls run on the energy of hope, then what do we feed our souls in order to hope in God? We feed them God’s promises.

The Bible is a book of promises – a storehouse of soul food as well as stories of God making and keeping promises.

Have you had your dose of hope today?

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