HOPE
“…Lord
Jesus Christ, which is our hope.” I
Timothy 1:1
Paul writes to the Corinthians saying that
without hope “we are of all men most miserable.” I Cor 15:19.
As I meditate on this today I look at the situations around me, wayward
teens, failing families, unfaithful friends, flagging economies and it can all
look so hopeless. How are we to affect any change? How can we infuse hope into situations and
lives over which we have no control?
Surely Christ is the only hope. Without hope
in His ability, His faithfulness, His assured love and care we would collapse
and fall from faith. Yet, the love of
Christ constrains us. It holds us
together and points us to Himself thus restoring hope. Hebrews 6:19 says this hope in Christ is “an
anchor for the soul both sure and steadfast.
“Lord, help us to keep our eyes on you. Help us to take heed to ourselves and keep
ourselves in the love of God so that your Spirit can minister to us in the
midst of despair and give us hope that is founded and settled solely in you;
the anchor for our soul.”
In what or on whom is your soul anchored? Where to you pin your hopes?
HOPE
“…hopeth
all thing…and now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three….I Corinthians
13:7, 13
We have no problem understanding the power of
great faith and great charity (love), but one may struggle at the idea of great
hope. It sounds naïve and hollow like a
Granny hoping her wayward grandson won’t steal from her again, though he always
does. Or, like a person who can’t carry
a tune bragging about their goal of winning American Idol.
Both scenarios are futile. Granny needs to wise up and protect herself,
and the singer needs a dose of reality.
Yet, hope is placed alongside faith and love as one of the
characteristics that will last. Vine
defines it as “favourable and confident expectation”. It is happy anticipation of good. Hope for the person of faith and love is not
naïve or groundless. It is based on the
solid foundation of the love of God and faith in Christ and rests with happy
anticipation in the promises of God’s Word, which cannot fail.
Hope says, no matter what today looks like,
tomorrow will be better. No matter how
hard things are now, in time it will ease.
No matter how bleak the picture, God is able to make it better and I
will wait, stay faithful and continue to live in hope because He is faithful
and can be trusted.
Hope looks for the coming Saviour. Hope knows how to “futurize”; to think upon
the final goal or outcome in order to draw motivation and encouragement for
today. Hope says, “I know my God is able…so
I will wait upon Him.”
Are you facing hard times? Does all seem lost or too hard to face? Can you place your sight on a better day and
believe God is able?
HOPE
“Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? And why
art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in
God for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.”
Psalm 42:5
Every “why” question demands a measure of hope
to be able to accept the answer, so the question “why” and the answer of hope
go together. For example, we ask the
mechanic, “Why doesn’t my car work,” and we hope the answer is simple and
cheap! We ask why someone is upset with
us and we hope the answer is easily resolved.
We ask why we have to have an operation and we hope the doctor knows his
stuff.
David asked his soul why it was
depressed. Then, even without an answer,
he turned to look past the current “why” to the ultimate truth – God would take
him through. He doesn’t seem to surmise
if the remedy will be simple, cheap, easy or without fear, but his faith is
strong enough to know that his current emotional state is temporary and refuses
to allow it full control. He can
continue to function if he looks up in faith to God. Help and praise will come. His hopes will be
realized, because his hope is based in God – not his emotions.
Someone once wrote: “Sorrow looks back, worry looks around, but
faith looks forward!” Sound advice!
Do discouragements get you side-tracked? Can you hope, without an answer, and believe
God is the lifter up of your head and that praise will return?
HOPE
“…for
we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope
for?” But if we hope for that we see
not,
then do we with patience wait for it.”
Romans 8:24 – 25
This verse always reminds me of
Christmas. I remember my thirteenth
Christmas. There was an odd cylinder
shaped present under the tree for me. I
shook it and it had a nice rattling sound.
My sister said it had makeup inside.
Oh, I so looked forward to opening that gift. I hoped she was right! But, on Christmas day my curious cylinder
present was a pair of attachable roller skates.
My hopes were dashed!
I am so thankful that this verse is not really
referring to Christmas gifts. The hope
of this verse is much more precious. We
are saved by hope. From the moment we
place our faith in Christ we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and we begin our
journey toward heaven and our final restoration. That is our hope.
If we had been immediately translated to
heaven upon salvation, there would be no need for hope. Hope is a wonderful space of time for us to
imagine what God has for us in the end.
But, you know, we are finite. Our hope and imaginations are too small to
realize all God has prepared for us. It
will be much better than Christmas!
Can you patiently wait? Do thoughts about and images of Heaven make
your heart long for home?
HOPE
“It
is good for a man that he should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation
of the Lord.” Lamentations 3:24
My husband is an amazing man with an innate
ability to wait on the Lord. He doesn’t
like to wait for his supper or to wait in a queue, but he will wait literally
years for God to work in people’s lives, all the while placing his hope and
faith solidly upon God in anticipation of the day God opens doors. I have watched this many times during our
ministry and have seen this wisdom in hopefully waiting. Yet, though I see it
and I relish the joy of hopes realized, I still get anxious for God to work
faster.
Jeremiah said it is good for us to hope and
wait. What does he mean? Does he mean that waiting has a definite
benefit to us? Does he mean that those who have learned to hope and wait find
more happiness in the outcome than those of us who strain and push to see
things happen? I don’t have the answer,
but I can see the lesson and have experienced it in ministry.
“Lord, help me to just get in my place and quietly
hope in your ability and timing.”
What about you? Are you pushing through life or resting in
hope? Does your health or attitude
reveal any answers?
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