Hope is Vital

Psalm 42:11, NIV

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.

Romans 5:3-5a, NIV

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame,

Romans 8:23b-25, NIV

But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. 

Romans 15:13, NIV

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Biblical hope means to wait with expectation. It connotes an excited expectancy, like a child anticipating Christmas. 

This is how those of us who know Jesus should feel in our everyday lives—excitedly expectant. We should be gradually growing more and more hope-filled, until we are overflowing with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. 

So how’s your hope today? 

Are you filled with hope, void of hope, or stuck somewhere in an ambiguous middle?

When our hope level is low, we need to search ourselves and find out why. Have the weapons fashioned against us stolen our hope? Have the voices of culture spoken louder than the voice of truth? Or have the cares of the world slowly just choked out the seeds of hope in our hearts?

One thing is for sure (biblically and scientifically)—we need hope. We were created to need hope. Without hope, life stops being life. 

But it’s not just any hope we need, it’s biblical hope. Biblical hope does not disappoint—because God is its source. It’s a hope in God and from God. It can’t be counterfeited. We can find temporary, lesser versions of hope through transient things or circumstances in our lives, but that’s not the hope we’re supposed to stand on. That’s an outside-in hope, rather than an inside-out hope.

When our hope becomes shaken or dulled, may we take notice. May we continually grow in hope as we know God more and more, and may we defiantly stand in the hope of God that will never put us to shame.