Losing hope isn’t a difficult feat these days when there’s so much noise and people/things vying for our attention. We lose hope in humanity, in ourselves and maybe even in God.
When we get to that place, or even close to that place, we must remember where our hope comes from and go directly to that source. The source of God Himself. The source of His loving, merciful, absolute truth for us.
When we lose hope, we must instead lose ourselves in the Word of God. It’s to us, for us and gives us answers to literally everything we face. We must remind ourselves daily to drink deeply from the well of scripture and let that fill us with pure and complete hope.
Hope Overcomes Our Circumstances
Our circumstances definitely play a role in the hope we’re filled with, or not filled with. When things are going well for us and we seem to be gliding by nice and easy, we have a lot of hope and trust in God. When things are bleak, difficult or downright tragic, we start to feel the emptiness creep in and begin to feel our hope slipping away.
It’s easy, trust me I know, to let hope slowly sink away and eventually fade out. When our circumstances can feel like they’re drowning us and we can’t possibly find that hope again. The only answer I have to that is simply to turn to God’s Word. Not with a plan, but with an open heart. Simply read His truth and allow it in to penetrate your heart, even those really dark spaces.
There was a time I had to walk through some really difficult family situations. Things were bad and felt like they just kept getting worse. People I loved most were turning to me for answers and searching deeply for even a glimpse of hope. Entrenched in those dark places, I watched people close to me lose hope and trust in God.
On one hand, I really understood their pain and their reluctance to feel hopeful. We live in a completely broken world with ugly and difficult challenges we have to face. Bad, unexplainable things happen all the time. But, on the other hand, I have seen God’s goodness over and over again and know without a doubt He’s always good, even when things around us aren’t.
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews ll:1
His Word Gives Hope
When we look to His Word and see His faithfulness written across every page and across every generation, we can begin to feel hopeful once more. We have access to hope at all times, we just have to be intentional and continually remind ourselves of where it comes from.
In my hardest, most difficult seasons the one thing that has continually been an anchor for my soul and a lifeline is God’s Word. The comforting promises and reminders of His goodness have helped me look beyond my circumstances and instead look ahead to the hope of Jesus.
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Hebrews 6:19
Looking towards our own strength and trying to find hope in that, will only leave us coming up short. The capacity to endure, to fight against the evil and disparity and to look ahead with confidence can only come from the Spirit of God. It’s there in that space with Him that we remain steadfast in faith and have an eternal perspective.
Keeping Hope Alive
In order to keep the hope we have from God, we have to regularly remind ourselves of where it comes from. Reading scripture, praying, worshipping the Lord and reflecting on His promises will keep our hearts and minds in tune with His faithfulness. In doing so, we keep hope alive and active in our lives.
When our hope is alive and well in Christ, we keep our eyes on Him and can view anything that comes our way through the lens of Jesus. We see purpose even in the midst of struggle, we see His goodness and steadfastness even when circumstances continually change, and we see our Father as our Shepherd and guide through whatever we come face-to-face with.
Hope is alive only through Christ. If we want to have strength and purpose in every season of life, we must turn first toward God to give us perspective and grace through it. When our hope is beginning to fade and we start to lose it, we must immediately turn to the truth and let the Lord reignite the flame of hope within us.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13