Never Without Hope
By: Misty Grimes
NOTE: For the past several weeks I have been writing devotions on the Armor of God however God has called me to shift gears this week as He has been speaking to me, and teaching me, a lot about hope as of late and I believe it is a message many need to hear given events of the past two years. To those of you who were in Sunday school with me on June 27th and Wednesday night study on June 30th, please don’t skip these devotionals as they go into much greater detail than we did in either of those groups. Unless God says otherwise I will be back with more of the Armor of God next week.
Day One: What It Means to Have Hope
Scripture: “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).
Introduction:
Everyone’s world turned upside down in March of 2020 and nothing has been the same since. As COVID-19 (The Coronavirus) invaded the United States, leaving no one unaffected, we had to learn new ways to live and experience things we never have before – wearing masks, social-distancing, quarantine’s, holidays and special events spent alone, having to communicate with loved ones who were seriously ill and in the hospital over Zoom, the overwhelming death toll that was beyond our comprehension, and the list goes on and on. Throw into the mix the increase in suicide rates and rise in mental health issues due to all the above; the rise of addictions and death from overdoses; civil unrest, an ever increasing rise in crime, especially violent crime, to the point that guns and ammo become impossible to find, and again the list goes on and on. As we have witnessed all this and more we have struggled to make sense of it all and embrace what has come to be described as our “new normal”. To bring it down to a more personal level, many of us have had to try and cope with the loss of friends and loved ones, some of which, because of COVID restrictions, we never had a chance to say good-bye to; personal illness of our own; financial hardships due to job loss or layoffs due to businesses having to shut-down; and for some it caused our own personal mental health issues and addiction demons to rear their ugly heads once again as we lost our support systems with the closing of counseling centers, support groups and our churches. Is it any wonder that many of us came to a point, and some of us may still be there, where our sense of hope has become compromised or disappeared altogether. I’m here to tell you that the one thing that has not changed through it all is that even in the darkest of time, hope remains because even though the world has changed, our God has not changed, we just have to know where to look to find it, change our perspective, and rekindle it in these chaotic times.
Lesson:
I was watching the TV show Criminal Minds and at the beginning of one episode the character of Agent Rossi quoted George Iles: “Hope is faith, holding out its hand in the dark.” This is when the Lord grabbed hold of my heart and began to speak to me and teach me about what it means to have hope. Today I want to focus on five scriptures that have helped me to learn over the past few weeks what this quote means to me, and other Christians, as we struggle at times to hold on to hope.
“Then Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head, and fell on the ground and WORSHIPED. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there, the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1; 20-21).
Job had literally lost everything: all his children and their spouses and their children, his homes, his livestock, his fields, his employees, his very way of life, and even his health. All Job had left was a wife who told him that he should just curse God and die (Job 2:9) and three friends who rather than be a source of support and encouragement to Job during his time of great loss, constantly told him that there had to be something that he did wrong for all this to have happened to him. While Job did grieve and at times become so despondent that he questioned why God even let him be born, Job never lost hope but rather he worshiped and praised the God he had always known to be faithful. Job held on to that little determined fire of hope that still burned within him even during his most devastating moments because he had proper perspective. Not only did he know God was faithful, he knew that everything he had wasn’t his to begin with it had all came from God and he was just a steward of God’s gifts.
“The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18)
The image that comes to mind when I think about being crushed is spirit is that of a car in a junk yard being crushed between two large pieces of iron. Can you see it? Can you hear that sound? When you are crushed in spirit, you are so broken that we can literally feel the intense pain of brokenness. You feel this pain in your body, your mind and your heart and it affects us physically. When we are in this place, our need for something beyond ourselves become very evident. Even in the midst of this intense pain hope knows that we never walk alone and God is always near! Even in the darkest times, God see you, hears you, loves you and is nearer than the very breath that you breathe! He alone gives us the courage we need to breathe again.
“The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan” (Exodus 16:35).
Hope understands that in the midst of not only our faithfulness, but also in our rebellion and fear, God provides for his people. Pretty much from day one the Israelites did more complaining than they did praising God for his provision. They often turned to their own devices and disobeyed God rather than trust Him (as we often do in times of difficulty), yet God continued to provide for them. Yes there were consequences for their actions (the only two people who crossed over into the Promised Land were Aaron and Caleb), as there are consequences for our actions that don’t include God, yet even then God is faithful to provide. We often miss it because we are so focused on the darkness that we fail to see Him.
“To provide for those who mourn in Zion – to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit. They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, to display his glory” (Isaiah 61:3).
Hope reminds us that He is the only one who knows how to bring good from our pain. In Biblical times during times of mourning, it was usual to put on sackcloth and ashes. Now, because of Christ’s death on the cross, Christ gives us beautiful garments of salvation, the robe of his righteousness, the grace of his Spirit, his gracious presence and his Word.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you – you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things” (Matthew 6:25-32).
Hope remembers that God isn’t powerless in our pain. He restores, redeems, provides and gives us the power to not only live through our circumstances but also above and beyond them because His faithfulness does not depend on us if it did then, and only then, would we be without hope! As the old hymn says, “His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me”.
Conclusion:
Today’s study was long and there is a lot to unpack thus I will, for the most part, let you draw your own conclusions by spending some time listening to God and what He has to say to you about hope. All I will do is end with this quote from Barb Roose: “God cares about you and what you’re going through. He knows that fear (a product of lack of hope) is a liar and has tried to convince you that you’re all alone, but you are not! God not only loves you, but He cares about even the smallest details of your life.” (Italics mine).
Application:
Take time right now to pull up the by Sanctus Real, “My God Is Still the Same” on YouTube and listen to. As you play the song just close your eyes, bow your head, and let God speak this truth to you.
Over the next few days take some time to do the following:
What does hope mean to you? Take each letter of the word and write this out. My example is: H – Holding
O- Onto
P – Positive
E- Encouragement
What is your “hope” verse? (i.e., what is your go to verse in times when it is hard to find hope)? Mine changes but for the past several months it has been Isaiah 43:18-19
Write a letter to yourself about a time when things seemed to be so dark you found it hard to have any hope that things would get better but they did. Include the answer to the following questions in the letter then keep this letter where you always can find it (like your Bible) so that when a time like that comes again you will have an instant reminder that there is always hope:
1 – What was the circumstance?
2 – What were you feeling?
3 – How did God bring you out of it?
4 – What did God teach you through this experience that you have been able to carry forward?
Day Two: Believe For It
Scripture: “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rives in the desert” (Isaiah 43:18-19).
Introduction:
In day one we talked about what hope is. Here we will talk about what we need to do in order to have hope in even our darkest times and how we can nurture that hope when all is well so that when the dark times do come we will be ready.
Lesson:
“For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11)
Hope comes when we stop being afraid and let go and trust God because we know He has a plan. When we are experiencing dark times where there seems to be little hope and our souls are crushed, it is hard to see Gods plan, but he always has a plan. The problem comes in that he has an advantage over us, He can see the whole picture while all we see is what is currently in front of us. But if we take the time to think back over a past dark time we can always see how God worked in it and how His plan came to fruition.
“For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope” (Romans 15:4).
Hope burns bright when we flood our souls with His Word – His truths and His promises. His Words bring hope while we wait for God to act in our circumstances or speak to us as to how He wants us to act in our circumstances. When we seek Him, He is faithful to reveal Himself to us and our responsibility is to act on what he commands us to do. When we fail to be obedient to what He is calling us to do the consequences can be deadly. As I shared in my testimony a while back when I first came to see Pastor Tim a year ago now I was at the point where the only thing I knew for certain was how I would die, at my own hand. The only question was when. Every day I woke up my first thought was always, “Will today be the day”? Then came the day when I knew that if I didn’t reach out for help today would be the day. Thankfully a small enough flame of hope remained that I reached out to Pastor Tim and I am here now, victorious, and doing things I never would have dreamed a year ago that I would be doing (like writing these devotionals).
“I have said this to you, so that in my you may have peace. In the world you face persecution. But take courage, I have conquered the world” (John 16:33)!
Hope knows that whatever we are facing today won’t beat us because we already have victory! This victory is ours when we put our hand in His and walk with Him as He washes over us with a peace, a sense of calm and an assurance that only He can give. Our victory was won with His death and resurrection.
“Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he was has promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23).
Hope accepts that God promises to do what He says He will do, even though we have to trust His timing. We can trust God to keep His promises because He cannot lie, that is not his nature (see Hebrews 6:18). Hope hangs on without wavering meaning that we don’t give up but rather always hold on to the small, determined flame trusting Him. Hope calls to mind all those times in the past when we experienced God’s faithfulness in seemingly impossible circumstances.
“But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope ; the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21-23).
Hope always remembers that even in our darkest times His love is steadfast and NOTHING can separate us from His love (see Romans 8:38-39). Hope remembers that his mercy is every present and new each and every day. Hope remembers that even when our faith wanes, when we have doubts, when we struggle to just breath, His faith is enough for both of us if we just reach out and grab His hand (find the “Footprints” poem on Google and read it!!). Hope remembers that when we aren’t strong enough to carry ourselves through one more day, we can rest in his strong arms and let Him carry us for when we are weak then He is strong (2 Corinthians 12:9-11).
Conclusion:
We must come to God daily with open hands exchanging our hopelessness for His hope, His power, His peace and His provision allowing Him to fill us in all the broken places. He is more than enough! “The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (Zephaniah 3:17).
If we are honest with ourselves we can say that the problem comes in our perspective. We will all have dark times when hope seems so far away and the pain is so great that we just struggle to make it through each day, and that is okay. What we need to train our brains to remember is that as long as we have Christ, we always have hope. Maybe instead of saying, “I hope so” we need to be saying, “I believe so.” Just a thought.
Application:
Once again I want you to go to YouTube and listen to a song (if you haven’t figured it out, music plays a large role in my life, in my healing and my ability to change my perspective). The song is by CeCe Winans and is titled, “We Believe For It.” Again, as you listen, close your eyes and bow your head and let God speak to your heart.
I also want you to have a family movie night and watch the movie, “I Still Believe”. It is available on most streaming services or I have a DVD copy if anyone wants to borrow it. A challenge for our Pastor(s) (to see if he/they are reading these – lol – I’m kidding about that part but it is mentioned to put it out there so others of you who would be interested in making this happen can express it to them) maybe we can have a drive-in movie social and play the movie.