DEVOTION/Hope in the Lord
Hoping for good weather
How many times a day do you hope for something? You hope for good weather. You hope for a good grade on the test. You hope you feel better today. You hope for a less stressful day at work. You hope you can get through the night without lying awake again. We all hope for things every day. Hope is part of our natural life. Those hopes come and go. They are not lasting.
The Bible’s hope is different
The Bible speaks of hope over 150 times. However, the Bible’s hope is not at all like hoping it will not rain on your picnic. The Bible’s hope is a lasting hope, not wishful thinking, but certainty of something that indeed will happen. The Bible’s hope is built on confidence in God and his promises. The Christian’s life is built on hope. Without it, we would be miserable.
The Bible is filled with many words that offer us true hope in our Lord and Savior. Psalm 71:14 says, As for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more. Psalm 25:5 says, My hope is in you all day long. And Psalm 119:81 says, I have put my hope in your word. The hope we have in God’s promises is unmovable: We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure (Hebrews 6:19). And Hebrews 10:23 tells us that God will not let us down: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Our hope rests in God’s promises
God has promised protection. He has promised to listen to us and love us. He has promised to forgive our sins and hide them forever. He has promised that when we die, he will welcome us into heaven. We have certain hope in those promises because of what Christ did for us. In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3). That’s a hope that is lasting and certain. We can join with the hymn writer who wrote, “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness!”
By Reynold R. Kremer