We Have Hope

There are days when we all feel like it is just too much. We can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel and there is no way to get life in order. We try hard to follow God’s word and we do our best to seek Him and His ways; yet, we feel like we fall short. The bills are overdue, the kids need clothes, the cupboard looks bare, and we still need gas to get to work until the next payday.  

No promise in the Bible says we won’t face hard times. In fact, it is mentioned several times that we will face trials and struggles at some point in our lives. There is no way around the hard times. Why? Because we live in a fallen world dictated by greed, power, and materialism. 

But in His goodness, God saw fit to give us a way to experience peace during these times. That peace came when Jesus died on the cross and gave us redemption. With this redemption, we were given access to the peace that will pass all of our understanding. There is nothing that this peace will not overcome. 

The thing is, we must also know how to have hope. A hope that says “Even if it looks dark and stormy I will hope in the promises of God.” This hope is one of the strongest blocks in our faith. It is part of our foundation and it is a must-have in the tools of walking a life of salvation. 

It is because of faith we have hope. We hope for the things we do not see and it is at that moment we gain strength in our faith. When we hope we are saying that we trust God to fulfill His promises even if we don’t understand the way it looks. 

Job lost everything; consequently, even after cursing the day he was born (a story for another time). But he still had hope that his God had not left him. Saul, who was against Christians and then converted, became Paul, one of the most influential writers of the New Testament. Paul had hope that he would gain courage as he suffered while sharing the Gospel. Oh, and then there is Peter, who denied Christ and became one of the great Ministers of his time because he had hope enough to be restored. 

When the night seems extra long and the battle is wearing on every ounce of strength you have, there is always hope. There is not a time that God did not hear the prayers of His children and turn away from them. There may have been consequences for the sin, but He didn’t tell them that they had to figure it out on their own.

There are many stories of hope in the Bible; the blind men who were given their sight, the little girl brought back from death, and little Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree just to get a look at Jesus; whom Jesus then called by name and dined with him.  So, as I reflect on these stories, I realize that each of these people hoped and their lives were changed because of that hope. 

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see. For by it the people of old received God’s commendation. By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible. -Hebrews 11:1, NET

It is through the strands of hope that we build a faith that will give us a way to hold onto the promises. When we can’t see the answers to our prayers we can hope that Our Father who art in Heaven hears our cry. It is up to us to reach for this hope. 

Strands of Hope: A 45 Day Devotional will be released on November 15th through several platforms. Sign-up for the newsletter to receive updates for pre-ordering your copy!!