UNFAILING HOPE IN LIFE

“Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my HOPE” – Psalm 119:116

Trusting in the WORD of GOD, we can experience UNFAILING HOPE IN LIFE: “Uphold me according to Your word, that I may live; and do not let me be ashamed of my HOPE” (Psa.119:116). The New International Version says, “Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed” (v.116, NIV). Unfailing Hope is never dashed. With Unfailing Hope, we’re never put to shame! Few verses earlier, the Psalmist declared: When he was under pressure, tempted to give up and give in, he reflected on the Word of God as his upholding instrument: “Hold me up, and I shall be safe, and I shall observe Your statutes continually” (v.117).

The psalmist refused to give up on what he knew was right. He embodied Unfailing Hope, which is anchored in believing in the goodness of God’s Character through trusting in the everlasting rightness of His Word. The psalmist refused to give up on waiting on and hoping in God: “You are my hiding place and my shield; I HOPE IN YOUR WORD” (v.114). Rather, he trusted in God’s love for him and in His Character This hope worked then and works now, with even greater assurance through Christ Jesus. This hope never gets old; this hope never wanes.

We’ve defined hope as a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. But in the life of the Believer in Christ, we base this Hope on the Person and work of Jesus Christ, whose atonement for our sins on the cross, gives us an assurance of salvation and an eternal peace in His Presence. Biblical Hope – Unfailing Hope – is the confident expectation and desire for something good; the assurance and confidence that something good will happen because we trust in God’s Promises and in His Power, without which, hopelessness would have overcome us. An Unfailing Hope is the confidence the Power of Christ will get us through any day and all days in our journey of faith.

Through Christ we have the Unfailing Hope that His kingdom will never end and through His crucifixion and resurrection, we are saved from the eternal outcome of sin. Jesus became the living manifestation of God in this fallen world to conquer death so sinners may have the Blessed Hope. The same God who created humanity took on humanity to save humanity. His sacrifice justified us so we may hope on an eternal life in His endless Presence. How do we live and believe in an Unfailing Hope when our world is burdened with such hopelessness?

The great Roman statesman, Marcus Tullius Cicero, is acclaimed to have said: “If there is life, there is also hope.” He would have been accurate if he was referring to eternal Life that God gives, not just natural life, because hope in the world is unreliable and temporary, whereas hope in the Lord is unfailing and eternal. When life’s challenges flood the soul and our faith is being stretched through trials and testing, it becomes hard to hold on to an Unfailing Hope. But, that’s why it’s important our hope grows and renews from the true Source of all Hope.

Our hope should never depend on the world, people or personal circumstances. Hope is only meaningful and overcoming when we focus on the promised eternal weight of glory, which outweighs our present light afflictions (2Cor.4:17-18). We must never base our Unfailing Hope on the assumption or the desire for a life without trials! Rather, through an Unfailing Hope, we can and should find joy and peace, even while persevering: “And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, HOPE. Now HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom.5: 3-5). Unfailing Hope in Life – Hope that “does not disappoint” – is our portion in Christ Jesus!