Pastor Daphne Yang
The challenges of life can seem overwhelming, and I know because I have faced those challenges just like you.
When these challenges attack, the thing they often come after in you is the hope you have, trying to move you from hope to despair but that doesn’t have to be so. You can stand tall encouraged by the hope that dwells within you and walk in the victory that comes from hope.
Hope can mean the difference between hanging on and giving up. It can mean keeping a positive mind when the physical evidence compels you to give up. It can involve an estimation of probabilities, not knowing what the odds are. It’s the voice in your spirit and head that says, “You can do this”.
It’s the attitude of ignorance, coupled with defiance, but still choosing to ‘hope against hope’, beating the odds, having a second chance, a fresh start, and expecting your miracle, which is integral to hope.
Hope is one of the three Biblical virtues alongside faith and love. Our Christian hope is described as ‘the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’ This hope gives basis for faith in the future tense and is settled on the Word of God.
Where there's hope, there's faith, because faith is the substance of things hoped for.
Often, our hope centres on uncertainty or the negative, like ‘I hope today’s interview will turn out well’ or ‘A car passing by this way at this late hour is our only hope to get home.’
Psalm 42:5 reads, “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him, for the help of His presence.”
The psalmist reminds you that an uncertain hope is not what you see in the Bible for you’re not to be disquieted and downcast. It’s not wishful thinking and it certainly does not mean “crossing your fingers”. Neither is it undependable and powerless.
This is “The God Factor” hope based on who God is and nothing else. God is the object of your hope and without true biblical hope where the uncertainty is removed, hope simply reverts to a wish.
Hope is the sure anchor of your soul and it’s to lean into this confident expectation that it’ll be done. Where there’s hope, there’s faith, because faith is the substance of things hoped for.
But to many, hope in God does not come naturally and we call this type of hope, “in spite of” what you see; in spite of what is going on; in spite of how dire the situation looks, you can have hope because God cannot lie.
When you hope for something, you wait for it through patience.
God bound Himself with an oath, so that those He promised to help would be perfectly sure and never need to wonder whether He might change his plans (Hebrews 6:17). This is the hope of your confidence, knowing God will respond and come through on your behalf. If that is what God said, you can be certain that is what He will do.
Therefore, find out what God has said about your situation and let that be the truth you believe and centre on. This does not guarantee that your situation will change immediately but the beauty of hope is that even if the situation remains, so does your hope.
In this one thing we must not waver – to be rooted in the faithfulness of God and the confidence in His Word. Where doubt, fear, hopelessness, and despair reside these have to be banished because they’re the enemies of faith.
Hope is connected to patient endurance and times of trials which lead to hope. Romans 5:3-5 encourages us, “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 …” When you encounter the living Jesus amid despair, everything changes.
When you hope for something, you wait for it through patience. Hope is the right response to the promises of God, for Abraham even at a very old age had confidence that God would fulfil His promises: “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed.” (Romans 4:18)
God has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of those pits than you can conceive. Your Christian hope has a sanctifying effect as you look expectantly for Christ’s return, knowing that when we see Him, we shall become like Him, being purified ourselves ‘as He is pure.’ (1 John 3:3)
Whatever your situation today may be, God knows. Hope is everything and God wants to restore your hope today – Hope in Him, hope in His promises, hope in His Word.
With confidence and assurance look to God today knowing that He will help you in your time of need.
Wait on Him. Pray without ceasing. Hope!
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