What is hope? Hope is a strong eagerness, a feeling of expectation and desire, and a keen anticipation for a particular thing to happen.
What are YOU hoping for? Isaiah 40:31 assures us that “those who HOPE in the Lord will RENEW their strength.” Job, during his heart-breaking sorrows, declared; “Though He (God) slay me, I will hope in Him.” (Job 13:15). Job made this statement when he was in a horrible time of pain and suffering. He had lost all his children, his wealth, and his health. His friends could not help him. His wife offered no support and was in fact telling him to curse God and die. [Job 2:9] Job felt as though his life was over. The only thing left for him was to die, YET he still trusted and hoped in God. That faithful hope saved and rewarded him completely when God healed, restored, and renewed him and his possessions.
What hardships are you facing right now? When the Psalmist wrote Psalm 43, [most Theologians attribute it to the sons of Korah], the writer seemed very depressed and discouraged. However, he knew the answer to his hopeless emotion and cried out in verse 5, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Saviour, and my God.”
Hope enables us to be grateful and able to praise our Lord, even amidst conflicts, difficulties, and troubles. Praise turns hopelessness into hopeful hope. Col. 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the HOPE of glory.” THAT is a glorious, comforting, and secure hope. We are never alone. Christ is IN us and that alone should give us enough hope to overcome obstacles and hardships.
Precious Father God, thank You that we need not lose hope when we look to You. Thank You for teaching us in 1 Thess. 5:8, to put on “the hope of salvation as a helmet.” Thank You that we can have faith and hope in You, that “Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; and it is the evidence of things we cannot see.” [Hebrews 11:1] You see and know the future better than we do, and we can trust You and have a secure hope that cheers and anchors and satisfies our souls. Thank You that we can “rejoice and glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because Your love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” [Romans 5:3-5]. In Jesus precious Name we pray, Amen.
Myrtle Turunen