Unprecedented Hope
“Hope: Life’s Missing Ingredient”
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If I were to show you a half-filled glass of water, would you say the glass is half full or half empty? Your answer determines your temperament. If it’s half-full, your outlook on life is more positive, but if it’s half-empty, then your outlook leans more to the negative side.
As we view this world, I think that most of us would be half-empty sort of people.
All in all, things aren’t looking too good, and the more we ponder the state of the world, the more we lose enthusiasm and energy for life, which is causing many to spiral into despair and darkness.
So why am I bringing up these negative glass-half-empty scenarios? Well, it’s because God wants to move us from the glass being half-empty or even half-full to the place where it really doesn’t matter. What matters is who’s holding the glass.
Hope comes from knowing that no matter what is going on in our lives, or in this world, God is holding the glass, and that’s the missing ingredient in many people’s lives.
There’s an amazing verse in the Bible, one that you wouldn’t associate with this idea of hope. But before we look at it let me set the stage.
A little over nine months earlier, King David committed adultery with Bathsheba, and to hide the affair and pregnancy, he had her husband, Uriah, killed. David then took Bathsheba to be his wife. After she gave birth, God sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke David, informing him of the consequences of his actions, including the death of this child.
Upon hearing this, David confesses his sin and repents in a beautiful Psalm (Psalm 51), but the son that was born from this adulterous relationship would soon become ill. David immediately humbled himself, fasted and prayed, asking God to spare his son’s life, but on the seventh day, his son died.
After hearing the news, David got up, showered, ate, and went into the House of the Lord to worship. Those who witnessed this said, “What’s up with that?” David’s response is what I would like us to consider today.
“While the child was alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may live?’” (2 Samuel 12:22 NKJV)
This offers tremendous insight into the hope David developed and carried with him throughout his life, in both good and bad times.
It began with David as a shepherd boy. On several occasions, David was confronted by a bear and a lion. Most shepherds would never have faced down these threats. They would most likely have asked whether the bear and the lion wanted a side of mint jelly to go with their lamb.
But not David! His hope was in the Lord. His hope wasn’t in his weapon, that is, rock versus bear, but rather in God, that is, God versus bear. And when you put it like that, David couldn’t lose.
It was such hope that gave God room to work a miracle in David’s life, not just with the bear and the lion, but with a giant named Goliath. While delivering food to his brothers at the front, he heard Goliath talking trash about the soldiers’ mothers and God. So David steps up and faces the giant.
And we see David’s hope on full display in this confrontation.
David said to Goliath, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand.” (1 Samuel 17:45-46a NKJV)
And he goes on to say, “The battle is the Lord’s,” or God versus the giant.
David lived his life with his hope in God, not in the circumstances. And we see David placing himself in the Lord’s hand, giving God room to do another miracle, room for God’s power to move on His behalf, just as he did when his son was sick and dying.
But even though his son died, David never lost hope. For David, it wasn’t about whether the glass was half-empty or half-full; it wasn’t about the circumstances. Rather, his life was in the hands of God, which is why he could get up, wash, eat, and worship God after his son’s death.
Notice that David also didn’t go to God with complaints. He didn’t question God’s wisdom or character. Instead, He worshipped. To David, the Lord was the Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, full of grace, mercy, truth, and justice.
David’s hope was in the Lord, something that is often missed in modern Christianity. But even knowing this, we wonder, “Is there any hope?”
Did you know that a person could go without food for 40 days, without water for 3 days, and without air for 8 minutes? But without hope, no one can survive. Hope is the one essential of life, and when it is gone, it can feel like life is over. To say it another way, “We all need hope to cope.”
In a medical study conducted by Cornell University on 25,000 prisoners of war, it was found that despite brutality, torture, solitary confinement, and other forms of inhumane abuse, there was one group that it didn’t faze. There were no post-traumatic stress disorders, no severe illnesses, or flashbacks. What they found was that this one group possessed an enormous level of hope.
The study concluded, “When a person has hope, they are capable of bearing incredible burdens and cruel punishment. But when hope is gone, people fall apart – emotionally, physically, and spiritually.”
Hope seems to be in short supply today, which is seen in all the things people are now willing to put their trust in. They trust in psychics, palm readers, tea leaves, astrology, crystals, religions, and a host of other stuff. And what they are putting their hope in never delivers, and in the end disappoints.
Where does hope come from? David found his hope in the Lord, and that hope carried him through both good and bad times. God is the only source of hope, a hope that will overflow our lives with peace and joy.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NKJV)
What will help secure this hope is realizing three things.
The older I get, the more I realize how much of life is out of my control. Yet, with all this uncertainty, I can still have hope because my hope is in God.
The Lord said, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10 NKJV)
Regardless of what may or may not happen, we don’t have to face this life alone. God will be with us and strengthen us through it all. Jesus said, “And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20 NKJV).
And so, beyond all hope, in hope we can believe, just as Abraham believed when both he and his wife, Sarah, were well beyond their childbearing years. Yet beyond all hope, Abraham believed in God’s promise, and Isaac was born.
Can I just say that life and people will let us down, but God’s promise is that He never will; He will never leave or abandon us (Deuteronomy 31:6; Hebrews 13:5). So our hope is not in our circumstances but in the Lord and His promises.
The Lord said, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8 NIV)
While we don’t control the future, God does, and He will guide and advise us through the hope He provides.
There are going to be things none of us will be able to figure out. But our hope isn’t in ourselves or in our abilities. Our hope is in the Lord. So we don’t have to have everything figured out. We just have to trust in God. He knows, understands, and will guide and advise us along the way.
Because God’s presence watches over and cares for us, we can have this tremendous hope, a hope that is new, giving us a fresh start every day (Lamentations 3:21-24).
Things happen in life, both the good, the bad, and the really ugly. The really hard part is that they have no rhyme or reason. They make no sense. But seeing a purpose behind what we’re going through gives us hope. So what I’d like to quote is a very well-known promise from God’s word.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28 NKJV)
Notice it doesn’t say that all things will work out the way we want them to, or that they will have a happy ending. What Paul says is that all things will work together, both the good and the bad, for God’s Kingdom’s good. This is God’s promise, and therefore it is our hope; and it’s at this juncture that optimism and hope part ways.
Optimism holds that no matter what, things will work out, while hope says that things will make sense no matter how they turn out. Optimism is the glass half full, while hope is that God holds the glass.
Further, all things will work together for good. This means everything, including illness, unemployment, divorce, failures, and accidents, as well as good health, employment, and good relationships: Everything – the good, the bad, and the really, really ugly will work out not just for good, but for ‘Kingdom of God’ good.
Paul says that God will work all these things together for good. And hopefully what I have shown and said is that it doesn’t mean that everything that happens to us is good, but that God will work them out for good.
Consider the ingredients needed to bake a cake. You have flour, raw eggs, Crisco shortening, sugar, salt, and flavoring. On their own, they don’t taste very good, but when they are blended together, they produce a tasty cake.
That’s what God does with our lives. He bakes a tasty cake from things that, on their own, are bitter and distasteful. But He will work them together to make an exceptional life.
Therefore, we can have a confident hope.
“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6 NKJV)
We can know for a certainty, and we can have this hope that what God starts, God will finish. But you may think that you, or your situation, are beyond hope, but you’re not, it’s not. Maybe you’ve walked away, but you can turn back, and the promise is that God will always be there waiting. Which brings me to point number three
Our hope is not here on earth but in our eternal life in heaven with God. The Apostle Paul said that if we place our hopeson Jesus Christ for this life only, we’re going to be the most miserable of everyone on earth (1 Corinthians 15:19). There’s more to this life of faith than the here and now. We have an ultimate destination, a place specially designed for each one of us in heaven.
Jesus said, “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:1-2 NKJV)
Jesus is saying that for those who make a decision to believe in Him, rather than in some religion, He’s going to prepare a place in heaven especially for them.
Now, heaven is not a fairy tale but a real place, often called “the land of no-mores.” It’s a place where there will be no more sorrow, fear, pain, conflict, problems, or death. Rather, it’s a place of peace, joy, and contentment, where God will wipe away every tear from our eyes.
To receive this hope, all we have to do is accept Jesus Christ into our lives as our Savior and Lord. This hope of heaven is available to all who believe.
Conclusion
I’d like to conclude with what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah.
He said, “They shall not be ashamed who wait for Me .”(Isaiah 49:23b NKJV)
When we have this hope firmly in our hearts, whether times are good or bad, we can soar above them like eagles, run without growing weary, and walk without fainting (Isaiah 40:31).
Today, God wants us to move forward by faith in His purposes, knowing that it doesn’t matter whether the glass is half-full or half-empty, but rather that the glass of our lives is in the hands of the Lord God.
And when we do, we’ll be like King David, making room for God to do a miracle in our lives.
