Throwback Thursday - HOPE

(all images from Google)

The other day I was asked by a friend

What is hope?

I thought about it for a while and this is the answer I gave her. I hope (hehe) that it sheds some light for someone on this very powerful 4-letter word.

The definition of HOPE is to expect with confidence.

HOPE is powerful. I watched a movie a while ago about WW2. A village of Jewish people were being held prisoner by Nazi’s. They had no idea what was going on outside of their prison and they began to lose hope that the war would ever end. People were killing themselves, giving up on living because they had nothing to live for in their existence as they saw it. One day a guy overheard something on the radio about the allied forces coming soon. He shared it with the people and everything changed. They realized they could endure this hardship because a better life was coming. Soon. Sometime. They didn’t know the exact timeline but they had HOPE that it was coming. Their circumstances didn't change but their perspective did. They had HOPE.

Interesting that when I googled hope, pictures of Obama came up. We can be let down when we hope in people (any politician, our friends, spouse etc) or hope in circumstances (economy, jobs, situations etc). There is only one HOPE that is perfect and will never let us down.
Jesus is our HOPE. He conquered death so that we may have HOPE eternal. At the end of every scenario, no matter how bad, Jesus is there. He never leaves us. In Him there is no death! No end. That’s HOPE. That no matter the circumstances in my life and how they may change, He is unchangeable, unmovable and always faithful.

HOPE is saying that tomorrow can be better than today and next week can be better than this week. HOPE is saying God’s plan for me is something I can trust in and even if it doesn’t make sense now, His promises are true and He will never leave me and He wants the best for me. No. Matter. What. Life doesn’t always make sense. We are never promised that it would. But knowing Jesus gives us HOPE in the future. He tells us that someday there will be no more sin, no more tears, no more pain. It’s worth waiting for and enduring the hardships now because in the end it WILL be good. No matter how long we wait.

I think we all battle with hopelessness. We don't think that our situation will ever change. We lose HOPE. That's why we must remember the promises of God. They bring us HOPE again. They help us to look to the future (next week, next month, next year, eternity).

We can expect with confidence that Jesus is now taking care, and always will take care, of us and that all things work together for good for those whose HOPE is in the Lord.