Why is Hope So Important?
“You’re blessed when you’re at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule. Matthew 5:3 (The Message)
There’s a standard reply to what to do when you’re at the end of your rope:
“Tie a knot and hang on.”
But what happens when you’ve tried to do that and your grip has slipped and you’ve plummeted further into the darkness than you even feared at first? It may have felt like the end would never come, but the sudden stop and pain it brought was more than you could have ever imagined that you could bear.
You’re not alone. It would have felt like you were at the time.
All of us are one phone call away from slipping from our perch on the rope . It’s good to take time to be reminded how to hope.
Hope brings strength –
but those who hope in the LORD ?will renew their strength. ?They will soar on wings like eagles; ?they will run and not grow weary, ?they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31
Hope brings joy and peace –
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. ?Romans 15:13
Hope brings unfailing love -
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, ?even as we put our hope in you. Psalm 33:22
Hope makes effective witnesses -
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 2 Corinthians 3:12
Hope brings rest –
Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; ? my hope comes from him. Psalm 62:5
But what happens when your at the place you’re at the place where you can say with Jeremiah:
Have you rejected Judah completely? ?Do you despise Zion? ?Why have you afflicted us so that we cannot be healed? ?We hoped for peace ?but no good has come, ? for a time of healing but there is only terror. Jeremiah 14:19
All of us will go through times of feeling rejected by the Father. Some of us may not be theologically comfortable with those terms but it’s how the Psalmist described it in Psalm 43 and as well as other Psalms:
You are God my stronghold. Why have you rejected me? ?Why must I go about mourning, ?oppressed by the enemy?
Psalm 43 (New International Version)
We’ll all have times when our experience – through no fault of our own – does not line up with the will of the Father expressed in Scripture. We can be rejected by friends, struck with tragedy, or stricken with illness and almost have the right to feel rejected by God.
Many times when we’re at the end of our rope it has to do with sickness we’re facing. It can also be because of relationships, finances, past wounds, or any number of tools an enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy would use to rob us of hope.
Hope is a key battleground in our minds because Hope is the helmet of our salvation. When we don’t have hope, our mind is open to all kinds of spiritual attacks.
But since we belong to the day, let us be self-controlled, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. ?1 Thessalonians 5:8 (New International Version)
And we know that when hope is slow in being actualized, it will make us physically ill:
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, ?but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. ?Proverbs 13:12 (New International Version)
So we need to know how to hope, when the situation looks hopeless. We need to know how to hope at the end of the rope.
This series of posts are taken from portions of “How to Hope at the End of the Rope” a booklet by Trevor and Karen Lund.
Your comments will help us prepare better manuscript and I thank you in advance.
My name is Trevor Lund. I'm a Christian Speaker, Author and Lead Dreamer for Expectancy Ministries. I love to impart hope and empower destiny with creative communication, memorable motivation and applicable inspiration.
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