I lost my entire lesson on Living Hope.
I stared in disbelief at my computer screen. The last three weeks of my Bible study notes evaporated.
Including my lesson on Living Hope that I was due to teach in 36 hours.
The introduction to my message sprang to mind:
Our losses reveal our hope.
I appreciated the irony.
I cried a little, but I still appreciated the irony.
All my notes were lost. But not my hope.
I’d learned enough while preparing the lesson to remind myself:
Never place your hope in anything you can lose.
I sighed. Deeply. And I teared up over the painful loss.
But I clung to my hope.
Where’s Your Hope?
My hope wasn’t in my notes or ability to deliver a great lesson.
And it wasn’t in pushing the right buttons to magically restore the lost data to my files.
My hope was in God, and we can’t lose Him.
We can lose sight of Him by magnifying our problems until they blind us. But we can’t lose Him.
Declaring “My hope is in God alone” is great. But if we follow it with fretting over our losses, we can’t really say we believe the statement.
Go Ahead and Grieve. I did.
I’m not suggesting we shouldn’t grieve over a loss.
Jesus grieved in the Garden of Gethsemane. He wept just before he raised Lazarus from the dead. Creation groans over the effect of sin on the earth.
Grieving can be therapeutic and honors our loss as prized and valuable.
Fretting, however, is neither therapeutic nor honoring. But it is telling. It exposes the truth of where our hope lies.
It may also show us we don’t understand the true meaning of biblical hope.
Biblical Hope versus Modern Hope
Biblical hope means to wait with confidence. It’s based on a person, not circumstances.
Modern day’s definition of hope carries an undercurrent of Please! Oh, please! Oh, please!
I hope we win the game. I hope Mom doesn’t have cancer. Please! Oh, please! Oh, please!
Modern hope holds its breath to see how things will turn out.
Biblical hope waits with confident assurance regardless of the circumstances because it waits on God, not results.
“For You are my hope; O Lord GOD, You are my confidence from my youth.”
– Psalm 79:1 NASB
How can we wait with assurance in an ever-changing world unless we base our hope on something (or Someone) unchanging?
The world can take away everything you own.
It can strip you of your health, wealth, and position in society.
It can take away your family, friends, and computer notes.
But it can’t take away God.
He’s a sure foundation, as solid as He’s been since eternity past.
What are you hoping for today?
If what you’re hoping for falls through, will you grieve but stand strong, confident in God?
Or will your contentment crumble? Will your view of God disappoint you?
Our losses reveal our hope.
I hope yours is in God.
“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.”
– Psalm 39:7 NASB
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Thanks, Jean. Great reminders.
Thanks, Jean! It’s always surprising to me how quickly I can forget these basic, but powerful, truths. When life knocks me for a loop, I can lose sight of my hope too easily. I’m thankful God is merciful and knows how to remind me of what He’s said and who He is.
Blessings!
Jean
Beautiful, Jean!!! I’m so thankful for the hope our Father gives us. I would be fully undone without it!
Thank you for writing this!
Blessings,
Sarah
Thank you, Sarah! I’d be totally undone without His hope as well. When I look at the many requests in my prayer journal, I praise God that it’s not the answers I wait on, but Him. And He does all things well in His time.
Blessings!
Jean
Thanks, Jean. What wonderful reminders.
Thank you, Lisa! We can never be reminded enough of the living hope we have in Jesus.