Hope

Hope

The Bible brings us so many messages of hope. God sent his son, so that we may be saved and have eternal life. We have the promise of a place in heaven when our time on earth is through. These stories remind us that there is always hope.

When we think of hope, we think about fantasies and events that we want to happen. For the most part hope today is viewed as wishful thinking. The biblical definition of hope as defined by Noah Webster’s New International Dictionary is, “A desire of some good, accompanied with an expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable; pleasing expectancy”. In other words hope is a belief grounded in faith and based upon the promises of God.

All throughout the Bible God gives us examples of hope. Psalm 31:24 says “Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart, all you who hope in the Lord.” God teaches us that if we are brave, he will strengthen our hearts, if we have hope in him.

Families go through many difficult times. It may be the loss of a job, or any number of negative events, and it is so easy to get bitter when things do not work out as you would like for them to. However, it is at these times that it is most important to trust in God. Our hope in God is what gives us the strength to push on, even when we feel we have nothing left. We do this because we know that God has promised us place in Heaven, which is better than anything this world has to offer.

The word hope appears several times in the Bible. Romans 5:5 says “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.” God fulfilled one of his promises to us by giving us the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lives within our hearts, it is God, and he is with us at all times. The fulfillment of this promise should give us even more hope as a Christian, because we know that God holds true to his word. The things that he has promised us in his word will come to pass.

Ecclesiastes 9:4 says, “But for him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion”. Our God is a god of hope and second chances. We are given a second chance every morning when we wake up to do better than the day before.