Hope

I've had several conversations lately that revolved around the topic of hope. Do you realize just how important hope is? I mean, when you give up on hope, what do you have? Nothing. Nothing! There is nothing to look for, nothing to work for, nothing to take joy in. Really. I want you to think about it. Look at your life in this very moment. Even if you're in a happy, wonderful stage of life, even if you're mostly content with circumstances and people around you, even if you're happy with where you are... would you really want to stay there? Forever? Yeah, that's what I thought. I wouldn't want to either. Because what in this world is worth hanging around for? Not my job, not my friends, not my church, not my family. Because each of those elements have the potential to bring tremendous hurt and pain to me. Because I'm human. They're human. And jobs and churches? Yeah, exactly. They're constantly changing, and sometimes the changes aren't changes I'm comfortable with. If I didn't have hope in a future that's far better than my present, I wouldn't like this life much.

• Job 6:11 - What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?
• Job 13:15 - Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him
• Psalm 39:7 - But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.

When you look at the stuff around you it's easy to be discouraged. But what is your hope in? Stuff? People? Money? or God? It's only when your hope is in God that you have true hope.

• Job 11:18 - You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety.
• Psalm 25:5 - Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
• Psalm 31:24 - Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
• Psalm 33:18 - But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
• Psalm 33:20 - We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield.
• Psalm 62:5 - Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.
• 1 Timothy 6:17 - Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

When our hope is based in Him, that's when we can be strong, and can see past our present. That's when we are secure, in spite of evidence to the contrary.

• Psalm 25:3 - No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame
• Psalm 37:9 - For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
• Lamentations 3:25 - The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him

AND... God rewards those who hope in Him. Nice thought, that.

• Psalm 42:5 - Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
• Psalm 52:9 - I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

I have found that when my perspective is wrong and things look very dark, I'm neglecting to praise Him. When I'm thinking of all the amazing things He is, all the amazing things He's done, all the amazing things He's promised for the future, it's hard to stay down.

• Psalm 71:5 - For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.
• Psalm 130:7 - O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
• Psalm 147:11 - The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
• Isaiah 49:23 - Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.
• Hebrews 6:19 - We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
• Hebrews 10:23 - Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful
• Lamentations 3:20-22 - I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
• 2 Corinthians 1:10 - He has delivered us from such a ly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us

And there's another amazing thing: He's always faithful. Hope placed in Him is never misplaced.

• Psalm 119:74 - May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.
• Psalm 119:81 - My soul faints with longing for your salvation, but I have put my hope in your word.
• Psalm 119:147 - I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.
• Romans 15:4 - For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

His Word is one of the best places to find hope. When I can read about how He made a way for other people, how He shut lions mouths, how He rescued, how He saved, how He protected, it restores my own hope that He will do the same for me.

• Isaiah 40:31 - But those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
• Jeremiah 29:11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This hope is a personal hope for me. It's not just for other people. He takes a personal interest in my life, and He has specific plans for my life.

• Psalm 65:5 - You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
• Matthew 12:21 - In his name the nations will put their hope.
• Psalm 65:5 - You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas,
• Jeremiah 14:22 - Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, O LORD our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

But this hope is not JUST for me. It's for everyone who puts their trust in Him. He brings a hope that is big enough for all the nations of the world to be secure in.

• 1 Corinthians 15:19 - If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
• Proverbs 23:18 - There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.

What a wonderful thing it is that this hope reaches far beyond what we can see, far beyond this life, far beyond this planet. I can't even wrap my brain around a hope that big.

• Micah 7:7 - But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
• Psalm 130:5 - I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
• Titus 2:13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,
• Romans 8:24-25 - For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

But then we get to the waiting point. And that can be SO hard sometimes. What makes the difference for me is in who is offering hope. People sometimes offer hope for something and then don't follow through with their promise. Waiting and hoping for something that may or may not happen is agony. But when you trust the One who promised, when you know beyond a doubt that He is faithful to ALL He has promised, when you know that hope is based on something - Someone! - far bigger than yourself, it makes it ever so much easier to wait patiently. When it's not a question of 'if' - it's a question of 'when' - then I can rest in the knowing. And I am peaceful inside, resting in a hope that is not unfounded.

• Acts 26:7 - This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. O king, it is because of this hope that the Jews are accusing me.
• Acts 26:6 - And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today.

Ever been ridiculed, accused, or on trial because of your hope? I know that feeling. When people around you don't have the same confidence, don't have the same assurance, the typical response to an expressed hope is to try to dissuade that belief in what can't be seen. Which is where faith and hope go hand in hand.

• Romans 4:18 - Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, "So shall your offspring be.
• 2 Corinthians 3:12 - Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold
• Hebrews 11:1 - Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.

Belief in the promise, belief in the One who promised, belief in the fulfillment of that promise. Faith and hope really are inseparable. And the duo gives a boldness, a confidence, a sure footing, even against the odds and evidence and nay-sayers.

• Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Ephesians 1:18 - I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints
• 1 Thessalonians 1:3 - We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

That confidence and hope is not something we can manufacture on our own, however. It stems from a close relationship with the One who gave the promise. You cannot believe Someone you don't know. You cannot have hope in a promise made by a stranger. We must know Him. Really know Him.

• 1 Corinthians 13:6-7 - Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres

As we grow to know Him more, we grow to love him more. And love always hopes.

• 1 Corinthians 13:13 - And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
• Romans 5:1-6 - Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Look closely here. I'd never noticed this one before, and it's really cool. See how these passages fit together like a hand in a glove? Three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest is love. Next passage: we're saved by the faith we have in His grace. Then there's this list of things produced in a life of faith, and the last thing mentioned is - you guessed it - hope. And hope does not disappoint us, why? Because God has poured out - yeah, you guessed it again - his love, in our hearts. Now look back at that verse in I Corinthians. Which of the three was the greatest? Yep. Exactly. Love is the greatest of the three. And it's His love that is now inside me. The same love that caused me to have faith in Him. The same love that offers me hope beyond what my eyes can see.

How cool is that?!