FINDING MISPLACED HOPE

“…those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.  They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”

Isaiah 40:31

 

                I recently spent four days in Iowa teaching at a women’s conference.  While I was there, I met an array of women who were run down, tired, beat up by the world, and frustrated with their life as they knew it.  Many of them had been walking in spiritual defeat for years.  While each of these women’s stories was different, there seemed to be a common thread throughout:  each one had either lost hope in Christ or misplaced it with someone or something else.

 

                There’s an old English Proverb that says, “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.”  That motto seemed to echo throughout the conference.  Many women felt as though they were just waiting for the other shoe to drop in relation to their lives, but that is the modern or worldly perspective to hope:  “to wish for something, or to expect something, but without certainty of its fulfillment”.   Knowing that the world cannot give us the fulfillment we so desire in our hearts, why do we so adamantly seek it?

 

                Ephesians 2:12 talks about a time when we were absent of hope as unbelievers.  It says, “…remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

 

                Unbelievers are continually disappointed because they put their hope in people, themselves, money, worldly possessions their careers and other “things” that have no ability to satisfy the soul (Job 31:24).  Because these things can perish, they cannot sustain hope, but let us down time and time again.

 

                Believers, on the other hand, are told to put our hope in things that will bring eternal peace such as eternity in Heaven, Christ’s Second Coming, and the fulfillment of God’s 40,000 promises in the Bible.  Furthermore, God promises to give us a hope and a future, strength in times of weakness, to carry our burdens for us, and more. 

 

                Because we all sin, we are all guilty of placing our hope in things other than Christ Jesus our Savior.  Matter-of-fact, every time we sin we are putting our hope in something else other than Christ Jesus our Lord.   Proverbs 33:17 tells us that if we put our hope in anything apart from God we do so in vain.  Did you know God has vowed to destroy anything we put our hope in above Him? 

 

                In Scripture, both the Hebrew and Greek translations of the word hope are a clear indication of certainty.  Hope in the Bible means, “a strong and confident expectation.”  Hope is akin to trusting God and confident expectation, and is synonymous with faith.  When hope is spoken of in the Bible it is as a “lively, living hope; not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life”.  Faith (trust + belief) is crucial in regards to hope.  Romans 8:24-25 says that hope that is seen is no hope at all.

 

                In closing, believers are encouraged that Biblical hope gives rewards and blessings: 

 

1.            It gives us joy and peace (Ro 15:13; Ro 5:2),

2.            It gives us protection (Psalm 33:18),

3.            It gives us strength, courage and boldness (Psalm 31:24),

4.            It gives us endurance, comfort, confidence in the face of death (1 Thess 4:13), and

5.            It gives us confidence in ministry (1 Tim 4:10)

 

                So how can you restore the hope you’ve lost or misplaced?  Scripture tells us hope can be regained and restored through the following:

 

1.            Knowing the Word of God (Romans 15:4),

2.            Knowing and resting in God’s Grace (2 Thess 2:16), and

3.            Though the Spirit-filled life:  (Romans 15:13; 1 Peter 1:13)

 

                If you’ve misplaced or lost your faith confess it now to God in prayer and ask that He restore your hope in Him.  In doing so you will immediately feel a burden of hopelessness leave you and be replaced with the truth which has power through Christ Jesus to renew your strength (Isaiah 40:31).  After all, if given the chance, who wouldn’t want to soar on wings like eagles, run and not grow weary, or walk and not be faint?  Run to Christ Jesus now and exchange your hopelessness in the world with surety in Him.