How Can We Have Hope?

From Advent: A 25 Day Countdown to Christmas on YouVersion

Is your life going to get better, or will it get worse?

How about the world? Will it get better, or will things spiral further out of control?

Or what about a person in your life who keeps making hurtful choices? Will they change? Or are they doomed to keep causing pain?

Delightful questions to start day two of a Christmas Bible Plan, right?

Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. – Psalm 42:11 ESV

So why did we ask these questions? Because how you answer reveals your hope.

It’s easy for life to steal your hope, even if you’re naturally a “glass-half-full” kind of person. Tragedies, unrest, division, aging, and natural disasters can make it easy to feel like our best days are behind us or impossible to reach.

But is that true? Or could it be possible that by reflecting on the story of Scripture, we can find real, resilient, and realistic hope? The kind of hope that can keep you afloat, no matter your circumstances.

First, what is hope?

Hope is the wholehearted, evidence-based conviction that God is making the future better than the past or present.

Sounds great, but what evidence? Well, let’s go back in time to over 2,000 years ago.

In those days, in a province of the Roman empire called Judea, people were low on hope. Most of the evidence from the past told them to give up. A handful of powerful empires had steamrolled their people, and it seemed like their story was almost finished.

So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, – Hebrews 6:17-19 ESV

But God was still writing their story. And through both prophets and ordinary people, His message of hope spread throughout Judea: a promise He wouldn’t leave them alone in the darkness, but would come to save His people when the time was right.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It’s only day two, after all. For today, ask yourself, “How’s my hope?” Ask God to help you renew your hope in Him.

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. – Isaiah 9:2 ESV

Pause and Pray:

Thank You, God, for making me new in You. When things feel out of control or painful, please help me to remember that You’re working. Help me to build my hope step by step until I have complete faith in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Reflect or Discuss:

Where do you feel hopeless? What step can you take today to increase your hope?