ARTIST NOTES

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Week 21        7/16/2016

Title of drawing:  "Reviving Hope" (Nehemiah 8, Malachi 1, 3, & 4, Ezra 7)

Artist thoughts:

We may mess up but God is always faithful, always good and his discipline restores us. After returning from bondage to the Babylonians, respect and honor for God's word was renewed when Ezra read God's law to God's people. That led to prayer, confession, and repentance. Like a mirror, God's law showed God's people their lack but it couldn't cleanse them. God's character and provision is what cleanses. This drawing of a balloon represents what happened next. Ezra called for a celebration. Aligning our heart with God's isn't just about where we're at and what we do but who God is. God's people had a festival and the focus shifted from their lack according to God's law to their life according to God's character and promises. Hope was a result. Hope in the one who God would send to save us all from ourselves, to save us from our sin. I see this balloon as a celebration and a hope that God's people were choosing to cling to rather than the despair that ensued when their sin was revealed through God's law. We know that hope to be Jesus Christ.

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life. -Proverbs 13:12

View the time lapse video HERE.

Listen to the sermon HERE.