When hope leaves you feeling a little hopeless…

Last week we talked on if God calls us to a life of singleness. And I touched on the area of hoping for and asking God to fulfill the desires of our heart. Now desiring a marriage is only one of the many desires we hope for. We hope for friendships to be mended and reconciled, we hope for family members to be healed from sickness, we hope for a time when we are not grieved by the weight of our circumstances. Truthfully there’s a lot of areas of life that we hope will change or hope will happen. Is this wrong or unbiblical?

Should our only hope be in the return of Jesus or can we hope for other things as well?

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1

Does this verse and passage mean the only hope we have is in Christ’s return?

My answer is no. Now before you tune out or start to feel offended, hear me out. I 100% agree that our greatest hope is in Christ alone. He is our redeemer, healer, and savior. Apart of Him we can do nothing, apart from Him we don’t even have the capacity to know who we are. He is the sole provider of our existence and joy.

With that being said, I believe scripture tells us that we can hope and should hope for things when they are rooted in bringing the Kingdom near.

"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart." Psalms 37:4

As someone who has spent too many years living in deception of her needs and desires, I feel burdened to exhort you. First that you might know that you do in fact know the voice of the God. Second is that if God has spoken something to you please do not let the world tell you otherwise.

Pressing back into Hebrews 11 we will find that every person listed in the hall of faith would be and were deemed crazy by the world. Had they given up hope which led them to faithful action many of the names you see would be different. God’s plan would not be, but the people named would be.

As God ordains and appoints, He also gives us choice. And these people chose to not lose heart but rather cling to hope in what they knew was going to bring glory to God as He said. I think we all desire to have this kind of faith. But what do we do when the hope we cling to starts to feel like a weight?

“Hope deferred makes a heart grow sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life” Proverbs 13:12

Sometimes hope feels devastating, so let’s talk about it. When the thing we desire most seems completely unobtainable, it’s heart breaking. As time passes it is like someone has sunk their hand into your chest and placed a weighted knife in the center that slowly sinks to the bottom until you grow numb to it. Only to experience sudden aches at certain movements of time. These aches causing you to see the world through a lens of pain, desperation, and anxiety.

Is this the hope that Christ leads us to?

The hope Christ leads us to is light and is not burdensome. The hope Christ leads us to is rooted in a faith that knows what He says will pass, and it always does. There’s no doubt or question about it. If He told you He has a husband/wife for you, believe it, pray for them, and pursue Him while you wait. If He told you He would give you a child, believe Him, pray for it, and pursue Him while you wait. If He told you He was calling you to a specific place and ministry, believe Him, pray for it, and pursue Him while you wait.

If He said it, He will do it. So bottom line believe Him, pray for it, and pursue Him while you wait. This is hope.

Hope that is in Christ alone, rooted in His return, and spilling over into the everyday of life.

Maybe hope deferred has convinced you that maybe you didn’t hear God’s voice. Sometimes this is true when our heart posture is not surrendered in humility. However, if every time you step into His presence which is quiet and gentle, and you hear the same sweet message of hope, believe it. People might call you crazy, heck you might call you crazy, but take heart the Lord has taken immense pleasure in your obedience and posture to believe in Him alone even when nothing in this world supports it.

So when hope leaves you feeling a little hopeless remember when you hope in Him and wait in on Him, you will not be put to shame.

“Indeed, none of those who wait for You will be ashamed…” Psalm 25:3

“Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, For I wait for You.” Psalm 25:21