Hope Against Hope

One of the definitions for hope is to have confident expectation. Hope floats in the tranquil seas of smooth sailing. Hope is gouged by large icebergs of trials and tribulations. Hope takes on water and begins to sink when compromised. So the question is, how do you hope against hope? Or to put it another way, how do you maintain hope when facing hopeless situations?

Let's face it. You are either going through something now, beginning something now, or just coming out of some trial. It is part of the curse of living in a sin infested world. It does not take much to get us distracted and to lose hope.

How do we become people of hope against hopeless and impossible odds? I only know of one way. Stay in God's word and believe what He says instead of what you see going on around you. Admittedly, that is hard to do. We are bombarded with flaming arrows shot like thousands of archers on a battlefield. All we have for protection is the shield of faith. Faith that God is trustworthy and reliable. Faith that nothing is impossible with Him. Faith that He is able. He is strong enough, mighty enough, powerful enough to handle everything that will ever come your way, including death.

That is really the worst life can throw at us. Death. Even in death the child of God can have hope against hope. We have a natural drive to want to live. Hope in God ushers confident expectation that a better future awaits. Everlasting life. A glorified body. Eyes on Jesus and continuous worship around the throne of God. Many we loved have already experienced all of this. One day the redeemed will too. Death is not the end. It is the beginning. It is graduation day. It is promotion to a higher existence than we have ever known. In hope against the natural desire to cling to life here, we hope in home beyond the skies. Therefore, when death comes for us, we can face it bravely and confidently. For followers of Jesus death has lost its sting. The process of dying might be challenging. Even then, God will remain faithful.

Many are facing some of the worst days of their life in these chaotic times. Bad news abounds. Everything seems to be coming unraveled. There is still hope. Confident expectation for the Christian. God will not fail us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He has brought us out of tight spots before. He can do it again. Hope in His faithfulness.

Also, take hope Christian the rapture is imminent. As things line of with prophecy, we are on the cusp of leaving this world forever. We may endure a little suffering for a season. One day, I believe very soon, God will call His bride home and send his angels to snatch us away. That is a hope and promise we should confidently expect. There is a reason to hope against hope.