The Nature or Object of Hope

Brethren, our lives are full of things that are far less than good.  Bad things do happen to good people, as we have heard said. Man is born unto trouble.  Therefore, on every hand we find disappointing and depressing events in our lives.  Divorce, financial hardship, dashed dreams, losses of opportunity, and a host of other things beset our lives. We get our hopes up or find delight in certain objects, then suddenly (or not so suddenly) they are dashed to the ground.  We are taken back with the news. We wonder what life is all about. We feel little or no desire to go forward with our lives. He/she was not what we thought.  They no longer want me in their lives. We are left without what we thought was the very essence of life. Let me say a word to all of us with this in mind. Hope is the expectation of future things happening in our lives, especially things that are good and delightful. In the Bible the proper object of hope is the Lord.  “Hope thou in God,” the Psalmist wrote. Find your expectation/your future in the Lord. Find your delight and dependence for daily joy and satisfaction in the Lord.  Herein lies the key to this. I said recently to a woman whose husband left her that life does not end with that. Yes, he was wrong to abandon his wife.  Yes, he should seek reconciliation. But he left her.  Of course, she is heart broken. Her world is turned upside down. Yet in the midst of this I am able to say to her (and it seems I am saying this to several as many occasions arise) that life is not her husband.  Life is not a wife, or husband, or a job, or a house, or a position, or a child. Life is not good health, or plenty of money or playing games. Life is knowing God - John 17:1-3 and His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  For you see, all these other objects pass away through time, death, providence and sin. But the Lord is our dwelling place from everlasting to everlasting.  He is always there when we come home! Amen and praise the Lord! Let me go further, not only does life not end because that woman’s husband left her,
but it is for the believer a door that will open the way to a much brighter future in the Lord. Whatever the outcome, if she continues to do God’s will, she is in for better days spiritually. Do you and I think God is limited is such a way? Can He not work through such disappointments to bring much good out of them? “Is there anything too hard for me,” said the Lord? No, there is not. I say for the believer that no matter what bad thing is happening in their/your/my life, it is not life. Rather, it is often the very thing that gets us back to the Source of life- God Himself. So take heart. Center your attention of the proper Object. Get up and go forward, regardless of your circumstances.  Look to the Lord. Hope thou in God.  And know that if you will, all will be well.  It will be better!  It will be a life that shines more and more until that perfect day. “For the path of the just is as the shining light, that shines more and more unto the perfect day.”