Hope

Hope is faith holding out its hand in the dark. ~George Iles

Hope is putting faith to work when doubting would be easier. ~Author Unknown

Lord save us all from... a hope tree that has lost the faculty of putting out blossoms. ~Mark Twain

Hope is a powerful force in our lives. The presence of it makes just about any situation bearable, where the absence of it makes just about any situation unbearable. It colors our lives, either rosily in its presence or darkly in it's absence. Hope and faith are very closely linked, because you typically hope in what you put your faith in. I wonder what you hope for? More importantly, I wonder what you hope IN?

In our Psalms today we read several that described very hopeless situations- but in each the author found hope. Whether you face hardship, sickness, being alone, discouragement, defeat, or just the everyday monotony of life in general; we see hope offered here in these Psalms.

The key is what you hope IN. In each one, the Psalmist placed his hope in God- and expressed his trust that God would come through. "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." More than just a stubborn, determined blind faith, the Psalmists remember the times God came through for them in the past. "Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you have done for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." "We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us what you did in their days, in days long ago. With your hand you drove out the nations and planted our fathers; you crushed the peoples and made our fathers flourish."

The Psalmists had hope that the God of their fathers was also their God, and they also looked to the works of God in their own lives. When we face difficult situations, it can be easy to lose hope. Especially when we see no "light at the end of the tunnel." That's why I especially like the quote from above, "Hope is faith holding out it's hand in the dark." We choose to believe even when we seem to have no earthly reason to. We remind ourselves of when God came through for us in the past. If we don't have that to cling to, we hold on to the claims God makes of his faithfulness in scripture.

As a crowning statement, Psalm 45 gives us the hope of all hopes. Written as a poem to a king on the occasion of his wedding, it also paints a beautiful prophetic picture of Christ and his bride, the church (us).

"In your majesty, ride forth victoriously in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness; let your right hand display awesome deeds...

Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom...

They are led in with joy and gladness; they enter the palace of the king...

therefore the nations will praise you for ever and ever."

Perhaps you have been let down in the past, and feel that you have lost your reason to hope. Rest assured, God will not let you down. Place your hope, and faith, in Him! He is the light we reach to in our darkness.