Creating An Environment Of Hope Series

Finding Hope

“Creating an Environment of Hope”

** Watch at: https://youtu.be/5qAHfN4werw

** Listen at: https://mega.nz/file/yFdWAQgZ#LXd4VMupdFsjFhCLzAvjRoWACnzqwt0DYnAeJEI4MTg

In our series on practical faith, I looked at the need to create an environment of faith from the book of Joshua, and then how we go about doing this from Joshua’s parting words.

Today I like to look at our need to create and environment of hope, and in like manner look at how we are to go about creating one for our lives, because to live in this world today, hope is one thing we need the most, because without it we can never be truly alive.

When most people view this life and what we face today, their general synopsis is that life stinks. And is it any wonder with addictions, sexual deviancy, divorce rate, and overall lawlessness on the rise, not to mention the increase in suicides and crime. And on top of all of this there is what we are presently facing with the coronavirus pandemic, increase violence in our cities, and a total economic meltdown as a result.

And so, most people today have little hope, if it is truly that, because most people no longer hope for the best to happen, they are just hoping that it doesn’t get any worse.

Now, the world has its own hope, a special brand of hope, but it isn’t something that anyone can truly base their life and hopes upon, and that’s because it more of an illusion than a possible reality.

Today people are placing their hope in a political system or party, or worse, a politician, a movie star, or an athlete. But the reality is that each of these will in the end let us down.

The world also places it’s hope in science and medicine, but as we have seen, scientific facts change, which means we really shouldn’t have placed our hope in them in the first place, and medicine while it may help, we know that our health will eventually fail. We also know that we can’t place our hope in our savings account or our jobs, or upon anyone or anything.

So where are we to get our hope?

This is something that the world has been searching for because of how vital it is to our survival.

Dr. Dale Archer said, “If I could find a way to package and dispense hope, I would have a pill more powerful than any antidepressant on the market. Hope is often the only thing between man and the abyss. As long as a patient, individual or victim has hope, they can recover from anything and everything.”

This was the conclusion of Dr. Wolf’s research into those who survived as POWs in Japan during World War II. He said those who survived and remained relatively unaffected that they all had a high degree of hope, and his conclusion was that a person can handle almost anything when they have hope.

But as we see, when we place hope in the world and its purveyors, then our hope is short lived and will fall short of expectation. Instead we are put our hope in the Lord God who never changes and who is trustworthy and faithful.

To Timothy the Apostle Paul said, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.” (1 Timothy 6:17 NIV)

And in his letter to the Ephesian church, Paul said that without Christ, without God, a person really doesn’t have any hope at all (Ephesians 2:12).

And throughout God’s word, which we are also to place our hope upon, because it has always been true and transformative, we are told to place our hope in the Lord.

One of my favorites is Psalm 146:5 that says, “But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God.” (Psalm 146:5 NLT)

And so this all begs the question as to what is hope?

The word itself comes from the old English word “hopa” and means having a confident assurance in the future.

Many relate hope to an emotion or feeling, but it’s so much more than just a feeling or thinking that something good might happen. Nor is it wishful or pie-in-the-sky thinking, like, “The Weight Loss Cure They Don't Want You to Know About.”

Having hope, however, is a certainty. It’s a belief that sustains us, it holds us up under than most adverse circumstances and it enables us to endure life when all hell is breaking loose around us.

And so, the only place that such hope comes from is from the Lord God, and it’s the knowledge that God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die upon the cross to pay for our sins, so that we can an abundant life both now and in heaven.