Dave spoke tonight on the subject of hope. Biblical hope is very different to just wishing something will happen; it’s not simply optimism. Hope is based on knowing who God is; knowing that we are in His hands and that He is in control. Jeremiah 29:11 remids us that God has plans to give us hope and a future; Biblical hope is having confidence in God.
In the UK, 10% of deaths are because of suicide; Generation X seems to be a generation of hopelessness. Never in the course of human history have so many had so much and yet want so much more. Yet if we are plugged into God, we are connected to His eternal purposes and can be sure these will not be thwarted.
Hope enables us to keep going, to persevere and bear whatever comes our way. A shipwrecked traveller was praying for rescue and then, to make matters worse, the hut he had built was set on fire and destroyed. He felt distraught, but actually was rescued the next day because a ship had seen the smoke from the fire. God works out His plans in often very strange ways to us, but we can trust He is working for good in everything. (Rom 8:28)
Hope allows us to slow down and rest (because God is in control) and to say no to the temptations of life (because we know what really matters.) Peter reminds us that we have been given new birth into a living hope (1 Pet 1:3); the word appears more than 70 times after the resurrection, reminding us that just as Christ is eternal and alive forevermore, so too is the hope we now have.
