Finding Real, Lasting Hope No Matter What

August 9, 2024

Is there hope? That’s a fundamental question of life.

It’s asked every day by countless people in countless ways: when sitting in the doctor’s office awaiting test results, when a couple puts months and months into counseling and gets nowhere, when dealing with a tax accountant in bankruptcy court, when parents experience the loss of a child.

Is there hope when life throws a seemingly hopeless situation our way? Hope isn’t delusional. It isn’t denial. It doesn't ignore the real challenges, details of the diagnosis, or dwindling money in the checking account.

It is not pretending. It is acknowledging the truth (sometimes the very harsh truth) of the situation and still experience an unexplainable, internal peace. It’s finding healthy ways to grieve and cope with what’s really happening.

You can survive 40 days without food, three days without water, and eight minutes without air. But you can’t last a second without hope. It’s an essential part of life. When hope is gone, life is over.

People everywhere are looking for hope in all the wrong places. They look for it in their relationships, in self-help books, in religion, and in self-righteousness.

But there is only one place to find real hope. Hope that lasts. Hope that can actually get you through the worst possible pain.

The Bible says real hope is found by turning to God: “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13 GW).

When we place our faith in him, he provides joy, peace, and hope that overflows. It's a supernatural gift of hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. He is the source of hope. Not our health. Not our security. Not our world leaders. God is the only source of hope that can get you through the real-life hard stuff that we as humans go through.

We all need that kind of hope. The world needs it, and it's our job to share it.

At the end of the book of Ezekiel, God says, “I am Jehovah Shammah.” In Hebrew that means, “I am the God who is always there.” God is always there. He’s in your past, so he can heal your past wounds and trauma. He is in your present, so you are not alone. And, he is in your future.

And, we ultimately have the hope of heaven. Even when life here on Earth is over, that is NOT the end of the story.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

When you trust in him, the Holy Spirit works in you to fill you with hope that God is in control, he loves you, and he is working things out for your good.

Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[a] have been called according to his purpose."