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What is more powerful than hope? Than the belief that there is better ahead of us than behind us?
Unfortunately at times I’ve turned hope into a very weak thing...more of a wish. “I hope it will be sunny tomorrow.” “I hope my job will get better.” “I hope my loved one will come to God.” “I hope that relationship will turn around.”
This isn’t the hope I love because it doesn’t focus on God and the assurance of living in His will, and it takes away any personal responsibility. The hope I appreciate is the one that leads to ownership. The belief that He has a plan, and in partnership with Him I can do better, love better, be better. That I can share His love with others. The belief that God is still working on me and in me, and because of that my future is brighter than my past. He isn’t going to leave me where I am unless I decide to stay there. He isn’t going to leave this lost and hurting world in the darkness.
If I take His hand, if I lean in, and if I own my past AND my future, hope will never be wasted. And ultimately, I have to have the hope and conviction that even when things don’t work out the way I want He is still good.
Hope is most vital in the hard times of life. Those times when I don’t feel like I can go on because everything is stacked against me and there is no possible way I can overcome. CHOOSING hope is even more necessary in these times.
“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:3-5
You see, in this verse those very hard times are building me to keep going. It’s tribulations that, if we lean into them, actually grow us into who we need to be to fulfill our calling. It’s not a nebulous daydream for things to magically work out, it’s the understanding that just like exercise builds our endurance, hard times build our strength.
We all have experiences in our past that tell us we are stuck. There are hurts that shout at us to stop believing for more. But in those dark times hope whispers to us that even if we fall a hundred times, we can choose to rise a hundred and one.
So no matter our circumstances let’s greet our day with indescribable, indestructible, infallible hope.
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