Have Hope in God!

“I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;  it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.” Lamentations 3:24-25

Do you have hope? When you place your hope in the world, it will eventually let you down. “Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. What they trust in is fragile; what they rely on is a spider’s web” Job 8:13-14. The things we acquire and our wealth will not bring us lasting hope. “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” 1 Timothy 6:17. When you place your hope in Jesus, He will lift you up! God has shared many promises with us in the Bible, and God has already fulfilled or will soon fulfill His promises. He is always true to His word. God cannot lie. He never gives us empty promises. We can place our hope in God and in His Word.

When you feel hopeless and helpless pray to God to give you hope. When Job was afflicted, he spoke of hope 19 times in the scriptures. “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him” Job 13:15. David was pursued by Saul in the wilderness for years with the threat of losing his life weighing heavy on his mind. In the Psalms, David spoke of hope numerous times. “But God will never forget the needy; the hope of the afflicted will never perish” Psalm 9:17-18. If life has thrown you a curveball, if you are feeling discouraged, or if you just want to give up, ask God right now to fill you with hope! If you recently lost someone you dearly loved, do not lose hope. “The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help” 1 Timothy 5:5. Let God help you today. When you wait upon Him, he will deliver you, strengthen you, encourage you, and guide you so that you do not lose heart. “We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield” Psalm 33:20. You will soon find yourself praising His name for His faithfulness and unfailing love! He will bless you for putting your hope in Him.

Jesus Christ gave us hope when He died on the cross and then rose again. We are saved from eternal damnation because of His sacrifice. “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Peter 1:3. Because of Him, we have the hope of eternal life in heaven, and we must wait patiently for it. ”Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience” Romans 8:24-25. Someday we will be in the presence of God where there is no pain, no sorrows, no tears. The Bible instructs us to ”be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” Romans 12:12. When our world seems to cave in and come crashing down with a mighty boom, remember that not even the best this world has to offer will compare to the hope of heaven and the glorious inheritance that awaits us!

Our daily spiritual battle gear should include hope. First Thessalonians 5:8 says we should put on a breastplate of faith and love and the hope of salvation as a helmet. We should give away hope to others who are helpless, hopeless, and discouraged. “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe” 1 Timothy 4:10. When the storms of life toss you around, anchor your soul with hope. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” Hebrews 6:18-19. Have you found true, eternal hope in Jesus Christ? Does your soul have a “hope anchor?” Everything in life seems to fade away when we compare it to the hope of salvation and eternal life. Praise the Lord for all of the wonderful things He has done and the hope that await us!

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” Hebrews 11:1.