HOPE FOR THE HOPELESS
Discouragement is dissatisfaction with the past, distaste for the present, and distrust of the future. It is the result of blindness. It is ingratitude for the blessings of yesterday, indifference to the opportunities of today, and insecurity regarding strength for tomorrow. It is unawareness of the presence of God, unconcern for the needs of our fellow man, and unbelief in the promises of His Word.
In life there are situations, which appear to be totally and absolutely hopeless. Just no way out or through them and nothing but defeat all around us. Being discouraged is one of the greatest tools of the enemy. To have you discouraged and defeated is what he is after. To feel like there is no solution to life and that things will just not get better. Let’s look at a passage in the Bible that shows an impossible moment.
Ezekiel 37:1-2 1 The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. 2 He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. "
This is an image of the nation of Israel as they were in captivity. The nation was virtually dead, no hope, no future. It was lifeless, scattered, and bleached just as this conquered army’s corpses, which were scattered all across a battleground. There was no way humanly possible that they would ever arise from this defeat. It would be impossible!
No doubt many of you at one time or another felt this same way. Desperate, defeated and no possible hope for a future. It just seems as though there is no way that things will get better. That your situation cannot change without a miracle and to be honest you just do not have the faith for a miracle right now.
A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we’re behind." "Boy," said the spectator, "I’ll bet you’re discouraged." "Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet!"
Now this boy had a different perspective… he still had hope. It might be an unlikely scenario for them to come back from but he was still in the game. Perhaps some of you today need to be reminded that you are still in the game. God has not had the final word yet. You might have lost your focus…
There is no greater state of hopelessness than of man without Christ. Jean-Paul Sarte wrote: "Man can count on no one but himself; he is alone, abandoned on earth in the midst of his infinite responsibilities, without help, with no other aim than the one he sets himself, with no other destiny than the one he forges for himself on this earth." Those apart from God have a feeling of meaningless and abandonment that they cannot explain. (H. Lindsell)
Ephesians 2:12 12 In those days you were living apart from Christ. You were excluded from citizenship among the people of Israel, and you did not know the covenant promises God had made to them. You lived in this world without God and without hope.
Paul understood how the gentiles felt before they found Jesus. Can you imagine those that heard about the living God of Israel… heard of the miracles…. That this was the God of Israel and not their God. They did not have the hope that the children of Israel had, nor did they have the hope of having the hope. As Paul said they were excluded and they were not part of the covenant promises. Until being saved they were hopeless.
God alone holds the answer to hopeless situations.
Ezekiel 37:3 3 Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
Now the answer is quite obvious in the natural… from our own view of this valley of bones the answer is no. It is absurd to suppose that these dead bones could ever live again. All hope was gone in the eyes of any man looking across that scene, but it was God who asked the question, and it is God alone who knows the answer.
The same can be said about your life, your situation. Can your life change… can new hope come to that which has been counted lost or dead? This was an impossible situation just as what you are facing may be impossible in your eyes.
Matthew 19:25-26 25 The disciples were astounded. “Then who in the world can be saved?” they asked. 26 Jesus looked at them intently and said, “Humanly speaking, it is impossible. But with God everything is possible.”
God delights in doing the impossible!
Charles L. Allen - When you say a situation or a person is hopeless, you are slamming the door in the face of God.
There are no hopeless situations. There are only people who have grown hopeless about them.
Psalms 42:11 11 Why am I discouraged? Why is my heart so sad? I will put my hope in God! I will praise him again—my Savior and my God
The psalmist here is not saying that his life is great or that the problems do not exist. What he is saying is with God so big and able to do all things why am I discouraged or sad? I simply need to trust completely in God for my answer… nothing is hopeless with God on the scene.
"No one is hopeless whose hope is in God."
Bailey Smith - Have you ever been in despair? The answer is simple. Quit looking at your circumstances and look at God. A pessimist finds a problem in every opportunity, but an optimist finds opportunity in every problem. Don’t despair, for God is the answer.
God’s Word gives new direction.
Ezekiel 37:4-8 4 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! 5 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6 I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7 So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. 8 Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them.
It would appear absurd to address "dry bones". To speak to something that has no chance of hearing or better yet no chance of changing…Picture Ezekiel standing in the middle of the battlefield among the corpses preaching to piles of bones. But God’s ways are not man’s ways.
The prophet speaks at the direction of God an anointed message. He speaks for God and they who listen hear the voice of God. When God’s Word goes forth, things begin to happen.
Hebrews 4:12 12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
Romans 10:17 "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."
Romans 15:4 4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.
The Word of God gives us testimonies of the past and promise for the future that we might endure and be encouraged.
Every conflict Christ had with Satan, Jesus overcame the obstacles by using the Word of God. In each and every recorded case He declared, "It is written."
Psalms 119:105 05 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path."
The Word of God is a window to those in the prison of hopelessness through which they can look and see the light of hope and get direction for their lives." To see that it is all not without hope.
God’s Spirit gives new life. Perhaps today you need new life to be decalred over that which is dead.
Ezekiel 37:9-10 9 Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” 10 So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army.
A.W. Tozer in "Born After Midnight" (Christianity Today, Vol. 41, no. 5.) wrote: Religious instruction, however sound, is not enough by itself. It brings light, but it cannot impart sight. The assumption that light and sight are synonymous has brought spiritual tragedy to millions. The Pharisees looked straight at the Light of the World for three years, but not one ray of light reached their inner beings. Light is not enough. The inward operation of the Holy Spirit is necessary to saving faith. The gospel is light but only the Spirit can give sight.
Romans 8:10 "...the Spirit is life..."
2 Corinthians 3:17 "Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty."
The Spirit’s control will replace sin’s control. His power is greater than the power of all your sin.
If you have the Holy Spirit on the inside, you can stand any kind of battle on the outside.
1 John 4:4 4 But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.
John 14:16-18 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. 17 He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive him, because it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you know him, because he lives with you now and later will be in you. 18 No, I will not abandon you as orphans—I will come to you.
