Hope When Everything Looks Hopeless!!!

Psalm 146:5, “But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God”.

What is hope?

It refers to the feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. Hoping for things to happen isn’t easy with us. It is not natural in our character. We want things to happen in the way, time and manner we desire. Yes, we are very impatient. We tend to see things in the short term and that makes it harder to hope for a future that calls for patience and endurance. Hope is something we must preach to ourselves, diligently and forcefully, otherwise, we will give way to sadness and anxiety.

So hope for us becomes:

1.   A desire for something good in the future,

2.   The thing in the future that we desire, and

3.   The basis or reason for thinking that our desire may indeed be fulfilled.

But biblical hope is much stronger. It is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future. Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future — it expects it to happen. And it not only expects it to happen — it is confident that it will happen. There is a moral certainty that the good we expect and desire will be done.

So, you are not doing well in school and you are likely to lose your college admission; your relationship with your best friend seems to be going nowhere; you are on a war path with your parents; you are being bullied in school and no one seems to care; you just lost your job in these days of high unemployment; you just feel like committing suicide!

When we feel hopeless, we display signs of irritation, anger, anxiety, helplessness, a defeatist attitude, and even depression. A teenager recalls her experience: “You don’t care what happens to you and couldn’t care less what happens to the people around you. And that all starts by losing hope”.

But hope and faith are almost synonymous. Wherever there is full assurance of hope, there is faith. Faith is the full assurance of hope. Biblical faith is a confident expectation and desire for good things in the future.

Joseph did nothing wrong except reveal his dreams to his siblings. That cost him his freedom and almost his youth. He was sold into slavery, falsely accused of attempted rape and sent to prison. Far away from home, with no family or friends, and in hostile territory, how hopeless can one’s situation be? The rest is history!

Biblical hope is never based on what is possible with man. Biblical hope looks away from man to the promise of God. And when it does, it becomes the “full assurance of hope” — the expectation of great things from God. In other words, whenever faith in God looks to the future, it can be called hope. And whenever hope rests on the word of God, it can be called faith. Therefore, let our hope be based on God’s promises.

That is how I know that your troubling situation, my current problems, will not last forever. So, don't let your faith die; don't give up hope, don't allow the voice of what you are going through to be louder than the voice of God’s promise.

Anne Lamott, an American bestselling novelist and non-fiction writer, has had her fair share of dark life moments ranging from divorce to substance abuse, but she refused to give up on her faith or hope. Here’s one of her most memorable quotes on hope:

“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don't give up.”

Your school grades won't hit the rocks forever in Jesus name;

You won't be jobless forever in Jesus name;

You won't lose your good relationships forever in Jesus name;

You won't be at logger heads with your parents forever in Jesus name;

You won't be sick forever in Jesus name;

You won't be downcast and discouraged forever in Jesus name;

Weeping may endure for a night but joy comes in the morning. Your morning is coming and your weeping will be turned into dancing again in Jesus name. When men say it is over, then God takes over; and when God takes over, the battle is over.

I pray for you today, may God take over every impossible issue in your life today; May He grant you permanent solutions; May you succeed and prosper where others have failed; May you have breakthrough in every area of your life; Because you are more than a conqueror, may you win every battle surrounding you and conquer every satanic trap set on your journey of life in Jesus marvelous name.