Human beings can live for forty days without food, four days without water, and four minutes without air. But we can't live for four seconds without hope
Author Unknown
There may be seasons in our lives where it seems as if our challenges are coming at us simultaneously from every direction, and we are completely inundated by problem after problem. Perhaps the strain of a financial challenge led to cracks in your marriage. Maybe the development of a health condition resulted in reduced hours at work, or losing your job completely. Or you've lost a loved one, or a close relationship has been severed. Under the accumulated weight of it all coming against you at once, you feel as if your entire life is spiraling out of control and falling apart. Day by day, your circumstances and options appear to be fast deteriorating despite your best efforts to salvage things.
There is a beautiful word in the Bible that makes all the difference when facing seemingly impossible situations...hope. It's defined as "favorable and confident expectation" or "the happy anticipation of good". This means that when you hope in the Lord, there is a confident assurance in your heart that, bleak as the circumstances appear to be, it's not over yet. God is working behind the scenes on your behalf, and He is turning the situation around for your good.
Unfortunately, the word "hope", as used in society today, is completely different than the way the Bible defines it. We say things like, "I hope that I will get a job" and "I hope it will not rain tomorrow". This use of the word denotes wishful thinking, uncertainty, doubt and ambivalence. Many times we even use the word "hope" in the negative, as if expecting the worst. For instance, we might say "I hope the lab report is not going to be too bad", full of fear, apprehension and insecurity.
We can have a true Bible hope - a certain, joyful, confident expectation of good - when we truly believe how much God loves us. Hope springs in our hearts when we believe that God is for us. No matter how difficult, impossible or dire your current situation may be, you can have a positive, optimistic, and confident expectation of good...because you know and believe that God is good. Putting hope in the economy, in others, or the latest technology will bring disappointment. But putting your hope in the Lord never disappoints, which means your greatest victories are ahead of you!
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