LIVE WITH HOPE
“Hope. What is hope?” asks Jo Black (an Afrikaans singer from South Africa) in his popular Afrikaans song with the same name. This song became an overnight success and reached the number one spot almost as soon as it was released.
Why? Because it is something we need so much in this world, in our country and in our everyday lives.
SO, WHAT IS HOPE?
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary hope is the feeling of wanting something to happen and thinking that it could happen; a feeling that something good will happen or be true (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hope).
• it is a feeling of expectation and desire that things will change for the better
• that circumstances will improve if you just keep going
• that some breakthrough is around the corner
This feeling of hope keeps you going where other people have long ago thrown in the towel.
The world is full of people who have overcome incredible obstacles and failures because they kept hoping despite the opposition of people who encouraged them to let things go and just accept their fate ... people who just never gave up hope
It is said:
• “We can live forty days without food,
• Eight days without water,
• Four minutes without air,
• But only a few seconds without hope!”
(Quoted from a contribution by Gordon Curley on Nov 21, 2010 - https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/hope-gordon-curley-sermon-on-god-brings-hope-151855?page=1&wc=800)
AND IT'S SO EASY TO LOSE HOPE...
What makes people lose hope? There are many reasons, but here are some of them:
1. YOU LOSE HOPE BECAUSE OF DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS
One often loses hope when the realities of life kick in and you realize what you have hoped for is not going to happen - disappointed expectations that make you bury your hope.
Luke 24:17-23 (GN) tells something of these disappointed expectations of the Jesus followers on their way to Emmaus, when Jesus joined them and asked them; “What are you talking about to each other, as you walk along?” They stood still, with sad faces. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know the things that have been happening there these last few days?” “What things?” he asked. “The things that happened to Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered. “This man was a prophet and was considered by God and by all the people to be powerful in everything he said and did. Our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and he was crucified. And we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! Besides all that, this is now the third day since it happened. Some of the women of our group surprised us; they went at dawn to the tomb, but could not find his body. They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels who told them that he is alive..
Disappointed expectations extinguished their hopes - we had hoped that he would be the one who was going to set Israel free! But now...
2. YOU LOSE HOPE WHEN THINGS LINGER TOO LONG without an outcome
When no improvement occurs, when there is no progress to change the situation, when things linger too long without an outcome, you begin to lose hope.
The question then is: How long must one keep hoping before giving up all hope? A week, a month, a year, or almost 100 years like Abraham?
Psalm 13:1-2 (GN) tells something about this struggle that David went through when he found himself in a situation that made him feel helpless and hopeless:
“How much longer will you forget me, Lord? Forever?
How much longer will you hide yourself from me?
How long must I endure trouble?
How long will sorrow fill my heart day and night?
How long will my enemies triumph over me?”
When things do not work out as you had hoped,
• when you have been praying about a matter for a very long time and nothing happens,
• when it feels to you as if God has forgotten about you, or that He has let you down,
• when it feels like your suffering is going to last forever and you fall into self-pity,
• one begins to ask: How much longer do I have to wait, do I have to believe, do I have to trust and hope?
That's when you often start making your own plans to settle the matter, because you say to yourself: “I have been praying for so long now, and have been hoping for such a long time - if God is not going to help me, then I must help myself, because who else is going to help me?”
And when your own plans do not work out, you fall into an even deeper hole of worry, self-pity and depression - because now there is literally no hope left at all...
3. YOU LOSE HOPE WHEN THE STORMS OF LIFE SEEM TOO GREAT TO SURVIVE
You lose hope when circumstances so overwhelm you that you feel nothing or no one will be able to help you anymore – that you have run out of road...
• It's those financial storms that flatten you
• It's that shock report when the doctor tells you: Sorry, there is nothing more I can do for you ...
Acts 27 tells something of this experience of hopelessness.
Paul was on his way to Rome as a prisoner under soldier escort. He found himself on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea where a storm wind mercilessly tossed the boat around (vs 15). The sailors made all sorts of plans to keep the boat on course so that it would not be crushed against sandbanks off the coast of Libya (vs 17). Cargo was thrown overboard, as well as some of the equipment (vs. 18-19). But without much effect, while the storm continued unabated.
Then we read in Acts 27:20 (GN): "Ultimately, we gave up all hope of being saved."
It's that feeling of resignation you get when you've tried everything humanly to improve the situation;
• but the cards are stacked against you
• the problems are too many for one person to handle
• and you say: I can no longer go on ... I'm going to throw in the towel, because the storm is too big ...
SO WHAT GIVES ONE HOPE AGAIN?
Or WHAT MAKES YOU NOT LOSE COURAGE?
One retains hope when you look away from the circumstances that are engulfing you, and keep your eyes fixed on God... regardless of what is happening around you.
When the Emmaus visitors' disappointed expectations leave them without hope, Jesus directs their attention to the Scriptures, to God's plan with Jesus' death on the cross, which is much greater than their expectations of an earthly salvation (Luke 24:25-27 - GN): Then Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, how slow you are to believe everything the prophets said! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and then to enter his glory?” And Jesus explained to them what was said about himself in all the Scriptures, beginning with the books of Moses and the writings of all the prophets.
God's plans for you and your circumstances are sometimes much bigger and different than you expect.
• Take a Moses, Joseph, Ruth, Daniel, Esther, John, Peter, James, Paul... name them all – God’s plans for them were far bigger than they ever expected or even dreamed.
• Even if you can't always see the bigger picture that God is working on, believe and trust Him only when He says in Jeremiah 29:11 (GN): “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, plans to bring about the future you hope for.”
Keep your eyes on God regardless of your disappointed expectations!
When David in Psalm 13:6 (NLT) stops feeling sorry for himself and clings to God's faithful love, his hopeless depression turns into a song of praise because he focuses on God: “But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.”
In 2 Corinthians 6:2 (GN) God said: “When the time came for me to show you favor, I heard you; when the day arrived for me to save you, I helped you.”
Keep your eyes on God and take courage - your time is not always God's time, but at the right time God will answer your prayer...
When the storm on the sea has been harassing Paulus for almost two weeks to make them perish, an angel of the Lord appeared to Paulus to encourage him and remind him of God's promise. That is why he could encourage the others on the boat with these words in Acts 27:22, 25 (GN) “But now I beg you, take courage! Not one of you will lose your life; only the ship will be lost... So take courage, men! For I trust in God that it will be just as I was told.”
God does not let storms throw Him off course, because God is greater than any storm you may encounter or experience. He only speaks a word, and the storms calm down (Mathew 8:26)
Many times we hope that God will change our circumstances, will calm the storms of life (and in a hurry, too!), and when it doesn't happen as we hoped, we easily become despondent and even pessimistic.
But God does not always want to change our circumstances or situation - He wants to change us! And for that, the storms are sometimes necessary, so that we don't rely on our own strength and our own little plans, but on God's strength and His timing. God said in 2 Corinthians 12:9 (GN): “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.”
Therefore, don't get discouraged or lose hope - trust God that despite storms, He will somehow make everything work for your good. That's His promise to you - and He never goes back on His promises.
AMEN
