DISCOVERING HOPE FOR HOPELESS CIRCUMSTANCES

BIBLE PASSAGE:
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are
God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
(Psalm 25:5)

MEDITATION:
Hope is a word often used, but what does it mean? It is
a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing
to happen. However, biblical hope means much more
than that. Instead of wishing or hoping for something
to happen, a believer knows that their hope is solid,
concrete evidence of something that will happen
because their trust is in God.

They know it is true, because it is grounded in the Word
of God and they know that God cannot, and will not lie.
The Christian has a hope that is
    “the assurance of things hoped for,
     the conviction of things not seen”
     (Hebrews 11:1)

It is a hope that is akin to faith – a faith that cannot be changed
by circumstances or what the eyes see, because even though we
have faith in an unseen God, we trust in His faithfulness and the
truth of His Word.

Can you imagine living a life without this kind of hope?
What would we have to look forward to at the end of our
earthly journey? It would mean that when it is over, it is
over and we disappear forever. It means that when times
are difficult, we cannot look forward to a blissful time
without problems, sicknesses, and death.

But that’s not the case for the followers of the Lord. We
are promised a new body and a new home that we cannot
comprehend. Imagine living in a new world where everyone
loves and gets along with each other. A place where we have
no worries, anxieties, sadness, sickness, or disappointments.

David is known as “a man after God’s own heart”. Why was
he described this way? Because he did whatever God wanted
him to do. How did he feel about hope from a biblical
viewpoint?

Here are just a few of his comments:
    Be strong and take heart,
    all you who hope in the Lord.
    (Psalm 31:24)

    But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear
    Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love
    (Psalm 33:18)

    We wait in hope for the Lord;
    He is our help and our shield.
    (Psalm 33:20)

    May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in You.
    (Psalm 33:22)

    But now, Lord, what do I look for?
    My hope is in you.
    (Psalm 39:7)

    Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed
    within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise
    Him, my Savior and my God. (Psalm 42:11)

    Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
    my hope comes from Him.
    (Psalm 62:5)

It is easy to see that hope is
what helped David through bad times;
    it is what helped him to carry on
    when obstacles tried to discourage him;
        it is what gave him the ability to see the light
        whenever his world seemed dark.
        He never lost sight of his relationship with the Lord.

ACTION:
Do you have the kind of hope that David had in the Lord?
Are you doing everything He wants you to do? Can others
clearly detect your committed relationship to the Lord?
Your connection with God can be an effective witness to
those who do not know Him.

If you have a time when things seem to be hopeless.
remember how David ‘hoped’ in the Lord God. We
can never be without hope for things to improve as
long as we stay connected with the Lord and have a
faith that He hears our prayers, and will help us in
our time of need.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your promises for
those who place their hope in You. Help me to avoid
being a person who only appears to be a Christian,
but one who has never had a genuine relationship
with You. Rather than battling the challenges of this
life in my own strength, help me to embrace my hope
in You, so that I can cope with feelings of loneliness
and despair. Whenever things seem insurmountable,
teach me to look past my problems and remember the
hope I have in You. Help me to align my desires with
Your desires for me, so that I will become a person
after Your heart. Thank You for always being for me,
and there for me!”

BLOG: utvolwoody.wordpress.com