On a cool evening in April, my sister gave me a call. “Would you be interested in helping me write a devotional study about hope for a women’s event?” she asked. The answer was a resounding YES! We all need hope. It’s what makes life worthwhile. Hope helps get us through the darkest of days. The world needs hope, I need hope, and what a great honor to share it with others.
As I thought about this, I realized I hadn’t spent all that much time thinking about hope. I mean really truly pondering hope at the deepest level. What is it? What does it mean? How do we get it? What is hope, really?
The simplest definition of hope provided by the Merriam-Webster dictionary — as a noun and a verb — is trust. Hope is the confident expectation that something will happen. It’s reliance on the thing — or person — on which our hope is centered. With hope, we can rest assured that the thing we desire is unequivocally certain to happen.
As I considered this definition, I had to take a step back. It occurred to me how frequently I misuse the word hope. I think the same is true for many of us. When we use the word hope in conversation, often what we really mean is we wish something will happen. We want a thing to happen, but we’re not confident it will occur. This is because what we’re wishing for isn’t certain and is potentially unattainable. We can’t rest assured on wishes.
I think we sometimes use the word hope because we want so badly for what we wish for to be true, it’s like we’re trying to will it into existence. Somehow if we wish hard enough, it will happen. There’s an undertone of sadness in wishing. Compare this to the joyfulness that accompanies hoping, which comes from the fact that hope is underpinned by trust and confident expectation.
When we choose to follow Jesus, we can rest in the certainty of God’s promises. We have hope in knowing that we are saved through faith in Jesus Christ. As we’re told in scripture:
If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
~ Romans 10:9-10 (NIV)
We have the God of the universe on our side, who loved us so much that He sent His one and only Son to die for us. Knowing how much we’re loved by God is the best reason for hope. So is the understanding that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. We can confidently trust in the hope of God’s love, as His love never fails (Psalm 136).
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
~ Romans 8:38-39 (NIV)
There are many examples of God’s hope-inducing love for us in scripture, and Hebrews 6:19 does a great job of creating a visual for us:
This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.
~ Hebrews 6:19 (NLT)
Just as an anchor holds a ship fast in the midst of a storm, we can rest firmly assured in the hope of God’s promises no matter what might come our way. This hope is an anchor for our souls that enables us to endure whatever trials we’re bound to face. While we won’t be able to avoid the troubles of the world, we can take heart because Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33).
There’s such freedom in understanding that God loves us despite our sins and failures (Hebrews 10:10-18). The weights of the world are lifted off our shoulders when we respond to the call of Jesus, and in His love we’ll find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28-30). We can rest assured because God’s promises are eternal (Matthew 24:35).
Spending time studying the hope that comes from placing our trust in Jesus Christ was good for my soul. It resulted in a 16 part devotional study covering hope created with my sister, which we would love to share with you. If you’re interested in a free PDF download of our study on hope, simply share your email address via the following submission box and we’ll send a copy your way.
Also, if you know of others who would benefit from our study on hope — or you plan to go through the study as a group — please send them our way to request a free PDF download. If you have thoughts to share, feel free to post them in the comments section. We always enjoy engaging in conversations that are helpful and hopeful.
Hope Anchors the Soul: A Devotional Study © 2019
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