Hope in God?

Yesterday as I was watching the news coverage coming out of Mississippi’s devastated coastal area, I saw an elderly woman returning to her home for the first time, a week after Hurricane Katrina. Her face noticeably brightened as she saw that her house still stood. As she peered through the broken windows at the furniture strewn around the rooms, at a home left ruined by wind and flood water, she declared, “We’ll rebuild. Life must go on. I am hopeful.” She had caught a vision of tomorrow that included a rebuilt home, a restored community. Hope had returned!

In another conversation, a woman said to me, “Did you hear that R. is getting married?” She said it with obvious delight. Why? Because a couple of years ago, R. entered a time of severe trial of her hope as the result of the death of her husband, leaving her a single mom with teenage children. In the darkest moment, she found hope in the Lord, persevered through deep sorrow, and now was ready to love again. Hope gave her a future!

Hope flickers and dims when life is filled with trials and sorrows and brightens when the crisis is past. Some days we even lose sight of hope. It can be strengthened by a friend’s encouragement, by an infusion of Scriptural truth, and even the dawning of a new day.

One of the most powerful forces in life is hope. The dictionary defines hope as:

• A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment,
• Something that is desired: “Success is our hope.”
• The theological virtue defined as the desire and search for a future good, difficult but possible to attain with God's help.

We choose the object of our hope! Some people build their hope for a good life around financial security. Others shape their future around the love of their family. Some build their hope on achieving a level of recognition and/or success. Peter tells us to "set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:13, NIV) Hope that is built on the gift of eternal life through Christ will never be disappointed, nor lost! Financial security can be lost with a quick drop in the stock market. Death comes, sometimes unexpectedly, and takes away a family member. A position of influence and prestige can be taken away in an instant. But, nothing can take away God’s gift of salvation and the promise of a home in Heaven.

Choosing the right hope is critically important because what we hope for not only brings us comfort, our hope shapes the way we live day to day. John illustrates this wonderfully saying, "Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." (1 John 3:2-3, NKJV) The hope of being received by the Lord Jesus, seeing Him in His glory, produces a single-minded focus that pulls us past the temptations to sin and the distractions from our godly purpose that present themselves to us.

Believer, on what have you set your hope? Give some prayerful thought to that today. Meditate on these words from the Word.

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." (1 Timothy 6:17, NIV)

"Why am I discouraged? Why so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again— my Savior and my God!" (Psalm 42:11, NLT)
__________________________