Where's the hope in hope?!
Over the past 100 years, there has been a decline in hope,
actually a steady decline since 1900 with it's deepest impact
being from 1980-2000.
If you just look around at the state of our country, society,
churches, and homes it would be easy to say that there is
absolutely no hope for this place. Often times I hear people say
"Oh, America is going to hell in a hand basket." This infuriates me!!
I hate it when people have lost all hope and then continue to
spew their own hopelessness into an already dire situation. Do we
not realize that death and life are in the power of the tongue??
Proverbs 18:22
I have gone through much in life that has given me moments of
hopelessness or as I was younger, moments that completely
stole all hope I had.
In less than a five year span of time, my husband and I lost three
people close to us very suddenly and very tragically. In this world,
tragedy surrounds us or that has been the case for us. But when the
last of these three deaths occurred, something changed in me. I was
hurt, yes. I wept, yes. But I yielded myself to the Lord thru this. I
gave myself to Him and asked for Him to please help me search
myself and give me peace through this.
He woke me up at 2 a.m. one morning and led me over the next
day and a half to just listen and dig into His Word. The one thing that
had remained in all of this is the word hope. I was amazed when I
looked up the word and saw such a decline in the use of it.
It was actually heartbreaking.
*The definition of hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a
certain thing to happen.
*The biblical definition of hope is a strong and confident expectation.
(I like that one!!)
*Other words for hope are: utopia, castles in the air, day dream,
dependence, fools paradise, fortune, greedy glutton, pipe dream,
thing with feathers and wish.
It is easy to see how our society and culture has lost all belief in
hope when they have resolved it to such words as these.
When I was a teenager, 18, I remember telling a close loved one
that I didn't want to date anyone. (My dad didn't let us "date" until
we were 18) That I believed if I waited, prayed and was patient
that God would bring along just the right man at just the right time. I
will never forget them telling me, "Ashleigh, you're living a fairy tale.
That's never going to happen."
In that moment they destroyed all of the ambition, anticipation, aspiration,
belief, confidence, desire, expectancy, faith and promise that God
would do just that which I had been putting my hope in Him to do.
I would love to say that my "fairy tale" happened the way I was
hoping for but it did not. I chose to let God go for a season because
I did not truly understand the depth of His love for me and felt like
I couldn't be what I had been told I was suppose to be for Him to
love me. I did not have a healthy identity in Him at that point in my life.
I gave up on hope.
More on that at a later time.
The one thing that I have learned through all of this and that has been
so engraved on my heart is this:
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also we have access
by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the
glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations,
knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance,
character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint,
because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit who was given to us." Romans 5:1-5
HOPE DOES NOT DISAPPOINT!!!!!
I now know that its okay to grieve and be broken during heartache
and tribulations but always remember that our hope in Him will never
disappoint us. His will be the victory over life and death; tragedy and
circumstance!
Amen!!!
Hope does not disappoint!!!!
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