Blog - Hope

God created us with a deep need for Him.  We need Him for our very existence.
Sometimes life gets difficult beyond our ability to process it.  Those who remain resilient do so because of hope.  If there is no hope in the Lord and His goodness, our outlook and resilience perish.

Even Job, in the midst of inconceivable tragedy, says this:
Job 13:15 NIV
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him;
I will surely defend my ways to his face.
He knew God’s character and his own following of God’s ways.
 
David writes often in his psalms about the benefits of putting his hope in God.  He finds truth, learning, and relief from shame.

Psalm 25:3 NIV
3 No one who hopes in you
will ever be put to shame,
but shame will come on those
who are treacherous without cause.
Psalm 25:5 NIV
5 Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.
The sons of Korah remind us that we can speak to our soul.  We can tell our soul to align itself with God and find hope in Him.

Paul names Him the God of hope.  As the God of hope, He has the ability to overflow us with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!  He tells us that trusting Him opens the door to this overflow.
Romans 15:13 NIV
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Peter describes God’s great work in us and for us.  We are given a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1:3-9
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

As Holy Week approaches, let’s put our hope in the One who gives us all we need to live our new lives with that living hope!

Q:  What area of your life needs a new and living hope?
Q:  How can we understand and apply the truth that God has given us a new life full of the living hope of Christ’s resurrection?

Prayer:  Lord, we are so grateful that we can trust You.  We praise You as our living hope.  We ask you to fill us with more hope by the power of Your Holy Spirit.  Amen.