We all love a powerful story of triumph. We love it when the odds are against someone and there’s no way the goal will be achieved. No. Way.
But then … the pivotal moment comes. A ray of light, a helping hand, a brilliant idea, a game-changing intervention. The music swells, the plot turns and we know that victory is in sight. We love these stories because they give us … HOPE.
If the change comes because of a person, it gives us hope in humanity, hope that there are still good people in the world. If the change comes from a brilliant idea, we have hope that problems can still be overcome with thought and hard work. If the change comes by Divine intervention, we have hope that there is still a God is heaven who loves us.
Where to Place Our Hope …
We all need hope. The Bible talks about hope over 180 times. Psalms and Proverbs tell us again and again that the best place to put our hope is in God.
“No one who hopes in you will ever be put to shame,” (Ps. 25:3.) “But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,” (Ps. 33:18.) “There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off,” (Prov. 23:18.)
A Safe Place …
When we put our hope in God, our hope is well-placed. We are not hoping in the sense of an empty wish. In fact, that’s not what hope means at all. Hope is “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; grounds for believing that something good may happen; a feeling of trust.”
When we talk about putting our hope in God, it’s not with a negative expectation. Meaning, sometimes we use the word hope like this: “I really don’t think there’s any way this is going to happen, but I hope so.” A thin thread of possibility. The hope God offers is so much better than that. When we hope in God, we can have an “expectation and grounds for believing;” we can trust that something good is going to happen.
A Good Place …
We know this because of Who God is. He is a good God who does good things (James 1:17) and even turns all the bad things in our lives around for good! (Rom. 8:28, Gen. 50:20) If we stick with God, we can’t lose! Either something good will happen or He will take something not so good and make it good.
Join me in choosing to trust God. Put your faith and hope in Him. Soon you will hear the music crescendo in the background track of your life, the plot will turn and you will see God working things out. Victory will be in sight. God will do something good and He’ll do it in a way that will propel you forward on your journey with Him.