NEVER LOSE HOPE IN GOD

“But I will HOPE CONTINUALLY, and will praise You yet more and more” – Psalm 71:14

Believers need to make the conscious decision to NEVER LOSE HOPE IN GOD: “But I will HOPE CONTINUALLY, and will praise you yet more and more” (Psa.71:14). Biblical Hope is so much more than a mere WISH or a feeble feeling. It is a real spiritual asset. A wish just wants things to be different; but God’s kind of Hope rises from deep in our hearts and is founded on His Word. Worldly hope is a wish for something that might not happen. For example, we might hope it doesn’t rain on our picnic. This wish-like hope is a desire for something good that we aren’t certain will happen. Biblical hope is confident and expectant that something good will happen, just as God said it would. This Hope is too precious an asset to toy with or lose!

Before accepting Christ, we were without Hope: “that at that time you were WITHOUT CHRIST, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having NO HOPE and without God in the world” (Eph.2:12). No matter how much we tried, we always fell short and ended up feeling worse than when we started. This was because our hope was in ourselves and other things, but Christ. We bought into the worldly notion that we were in control of our lives and if we only worked hard and long enough, we could have the desires of our hearts. This hardly ever worked out!  We often didn’t know where to turn, and worse still, we had too much pride to ask for help; and continued in misery!

Life does not have to be on a downward spiral of hopelessness – just going through the motions of living – when God’s Word and His Help are available! Our hearts only need to be ready to listen, trust, and obey. Perhaps the struggles were needed to make our hearts tender enough for the Word to pierce through the shells of pride and self-deceit. As we open our hearts and allow the Love of Jesus to flood all the dark areas in our lives, we learn that our Hope needs to be in Christ alone. He is the Rock that will always be there for us – never shifting, never faltering, and never failing.

Job’s affirmation, one of the greatest statements of Faith and Hope in all of scripture, tells us what it means to consciously decide never to lose Hope: “Though he slay me, I WILL HOPE IN HIM” (Job 13:15, NASB). Are you in the midst of a trial where you feel your hope is fading? Do you feel like the light at the end of the tunnel has gone out? Never lose your hope in God: “Let us hold fast the confession of our HOPE without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb.10:23). Hope anchors our soul when our emotions are up and down (Heb. 6:19). If we let anyone or anything in this world replace God in our lives, we will be trading off peace and hope. This world is empty. It doesn’t keep its promises. As the song says:

IN CHRIST ALONE MY HOPE IS FOUND, He is my light, my strength, my song

This cornerstone, this solid ground firm through the fiercest drought and storm

What heights of love, what depths of peace when fears are stilled, when strivings cease

My comforter, my all in all here in the love of Christ I stand.

Our Hope in God is not like our hope in people.

People may fail to love us. God is Love.

People may hurt us. God is our Healer.

People may be dishonest to us. God is Truth.

People change. God remains constant.

People may leave us or betray us. God will never leave us nor forsake us.

Having hope in God brings an endless flow of strength to make it through each day. As we hope in God, He’ll “make haste to help” us (v.12). No one and nothing can steal our joy or peace when our hope is in God. Never lose your Hope in God!