Hope is a word that means a lot to me, so when a friend of mine sent me this verse…well, perhaps you can imagine my reaction. To think of God as a God of Hope, that His Spirit can cause us to OVERFLOW with hope is pretty amazing.
Because if you look at the world around us…we don’t have a lot of cause to hope, do we? I mean really. I don’t know if it’s just what the news wants to report or if the world has really gone crazy, but there seems to be so much anger!
People feel entitled to things rather than grateful, powerful rather than meek or humble, and afraid. If I didn’t believe in my God of hope, the One who knows what is around the next bend, I’d be afraid too. Truth is, sometimes I can feel fear even though I’m trusting Him for the future.
Part of our fear is human nature. Part of it is what Deborah faced in ancient Israel. Terrorism. No one knows what tomorrow holds, and that can be scary for people who want to control their own destiny.
Today I read about another attack on one of our basic American freedoms – the freedom of speech. Anger breeds this fear to the point that everything that may be just a difference of opinion is suddenly considered hate, when maybe it’s not hate at all. Since when did is become a sin to express a different point of view?
Isn’t the beauty of the right given to us the ability to disagree and still be friends? Otherwise we toe the party line and don’t dare speak up for what we believe to be right and true. (The article was pointing out how this is beginning to affect fiction. So storytelling is now suspect even when we are just sharing our imagination?)
So I can see a reason for fear. But perfect love – the love of the God of Hope casts out fear. When we know we are loved by our Heavenly Father, what is there to be afraid of? As we trust Him, we learn that He wants to give us joy and peace and can you even imagine your spirit OVERFLOWING with hope?
I could get used to that.
My friend knew I needed this verse because sometimes I tend toward the very opposite of hope. I play the part of doubting Thomas or I wonder like Peter, “What about him, Lord?” I have never been great at waiting and yet that is the one thing God wants me to learn well. As it turns out? His timing, as my mom continually reminds me, is NEVER wrong.
So we don’t get what we want when we want it. So we misunderstand another person. So we disagree with another’s point of view. These are not causes for anger or fear. They are causes to be kind, compassionate, and pray for those who mistreat us.
They are causes to put our trust where it rightly belongs – in the only One who has any control over anything anyway. And as I learn to trust Him – and believe me it’s such a daily thing – I have hope. I am learning to thank Him IN ADVANCE for keeping His promises. I have Him, therefore I have HOPE.
We don’t need to fear the future. We don’t need to fear anyone but God because God is the only one with power to do anything eternal. So when we trust Him? We are given joy and peace and overflowing, amazing, God blessed, beyond understanding hope.
I can definitely live with that.
~Selah #liveloveprayhopetrust #overwhelminghope
