so where is the hope?

Looking at the news and the circumstances of our lives can be overwhelming and devastating. But the news or our circumstances is not where our hope lies. Our hope comes from the Lord, the maker of Heaven and earth. We must look to scripture and the Lord Jesus Christ or we miss finding peace and hope in a dismissal world.

This world is like a storm twirling out of control and never ending. It’s one thing after another with no end in sight. We can become hopeless in our helplessness or we can bury our heads in the sand or try to focus on our own lives especially, if our circumstances are currently manageable and maybe even good. Eventually, the circumstances of current events will affect you and your head will have to come out of the sand…what will you do? Where will your hope come from?

Our only hope rests with Jesus and the scripture He has given us and the Spirit He has provided to lead us to the hope we so desperately need and seek.

What does scripture say...

"nothing can separate (the children) of God from the love of God" Romans 8:35-39

"I will never leave you or abandon you" Hebrews 13:5

"I can endure all things through the power of the one who gives my strength." Philippians 4:13

We may never understand why the Lord allows tragedies and trials in our lives but we can be assured that in the midst of them He is always with us; and through Him and in Him there is always hope and love.

Romans 15:13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

He is our hope and miraculously we can also have joy and peace in the midst of our storms/trials. He promises this for us. We just have to choose to believe. But what if we cannot believe? What then?

You ask for help. The father in the New Testament went to Jesus when his son was sick. He had heard that Jesus could help and had helped others but he had doubts. He asked Jesus to heal his son and then he asked Jesus to help his unbelief. What happened? His son was healed. (Mark 9:24)

What can we take away from this? Will Jesus always heal our sick loved ones? Not always but belief is needed when asking Jesus for help, but even in our unbelief and doubting, Jesus meets us there. (the father mentioned earlier and even Thomas after the resurrection was not rejected but met by Jesus with love and understanding, NOT shame.)

Christ and His Word is our only hope in these times and the times to come. Seek Him and His scriptures, you will find it.

Deuteronomy 4:29 “you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

So where does that leave us?

Will you believe the scriptures?

Will you trust in the Lord?

In the midst of our storms both personal and social, He can bring hope; not the hope that things will change, necessarily, but the hope that He will be there with each of us in the midst of it - loving us and giving us the strength we need to get through it. In that strength and hope, we find peace and joy.

Joy is in the Lord Jesus Christ and who He is.