Hope

This is a word that gets a lot of play. When we use the word hope, we usually mean that we should cross our fingers and wish for the best. Hope then becomes nothing more than positive thinking. But the Bible gives us a different perspective on the word hope.

Hope carries the idea of an expectation of good. Hope is coupled with certainty, that is to say, certainty regarding the future. The question then is not one of IF, but of WHEN. Romans 8:24 says, “For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees?” Hope is based in what is coming. It is far deeper than the mere crossing of fingers with earnest longings.

In the midst of tragedy, we can have hope. Hope that is anchored in Jesus brings confidence in God’s goodness, and thus peace in our soul. Even when the product of that hope is veiled, the certainty of that hope is sure.

How do we apply this in these circumstances?

1.) God has promised to do good in the lives of Jesus’ followers.

Romans 8:28, And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

We may not understand the why’s and how’s but we trust in the who. 

2.) Ultimately, our hope is the God of power himself, not just what God can do. 

Jeremiah 32:17, ‘Ah, Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. 

When we see how great God is, the things that seem so big to us are put in their right proportion. God is bigger and we expect good from God, and trust that God knows what is good more than we do.

3.) The hope for the Christian is stronger than the grave.

1 Peter 1:3, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

This hope is not temporal. In other words, anything in which we place our hope in this life will ultimately fail us, whether today, tomorrow, or forty years down the line. But the hope that comes through Jesus conquers the grave and is eternal.

We can rest in hope. Hope that God is good, God is bigger than the crisis, and that God in Jesus conquered the grave which means there is hope of life.