Hope

Psalm 27:13-14, "[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living! Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord."

Hope... something all of us need in order to live!

Hope makes even the worst of situations bearable, and it helps us keep going when we can't see light at the end of the tunnel.

Today's verses remind me of the importance of waiting on, hoping for, and expecting the Lord.

When I break down these things, I see how I need to wait on the Lord. When I'm in need of a miracle, wait on the Lord. When life isn't going as I planned, wait on the Lord. When promises seem to be taking too long to get here, wait on the Lord.

When I hope for the Lord, I see how no matter how far off life seems, I know that my hope will not be let down as long as I continue to hope for the Lord. Once again, in all of life's disappointing and troublesome times, I need to hope for the Lord. Hope for Him because I know He will never leave me. Hope for Him because I know that nothing is impossible for God, and hope for Him because I know that He loves me and has a good plan for my life.

Now we reach expecting the Lord. He has given us promises that we must remember and hold onto. We cannot give up on the promises of God. We need to hold onto them and expect the Lord to keep His Word because He will.

In the first verse, David asked a  very wise question, "[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord's goodness in the land of the living!" Psalm 27:13. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself what would've become of you had you given up hoping for the Lord?

A promise that God made to me four years ago was that He would send my husband to me. Even though it has been years since He promised me that precious blessing, I still hold onto it as if He had told me that today. There have been times I've wished His timing was sooner. There have been moments where I've become frustrated because, after all, that was four years ago. But somehow, God has helped me not give up hoping for Him to keep His promise.

Recently I see how wonderful that promise to me is because without it, I would've just given up with the whole hoping to getting married someday thing and decided to be single the rest of my life. When I look around through what I can see, I don't see hope. There were three guys who seemed interested in me since I started going to college, yet all three of them turned out not being good guys at all once I talked to them for even a day. They didn't really like me. After finding out that all of them were creepy, I began struggling with the thought of, "Are there any good guys left out there?" The answer is, "Yes." God has someone out there for me, so although what my eyes can see seems bleak, as long as I keep my hope in the Lord, I can rise above what my eyes can see into seeing things through God's eyes.

Do your circumstances seem bleak today? From what you can perceive, does all hope seem lost? I encourage you to refocus your attention on the Lord. Wait for Him, hope for Him, and expect Him to move on your behalf. Sometimes life doesn't make a whole lot of sense, but when we know the character of our God, we can have the assurance, which brings hope, that He will not leave us or forsake us. Nothing is too big for Him, and in our darkest hours, He is our light!

Dear Heavenly Father,

I love that no matter how things look, I can still have hope because You are always the same! Thank You for never letting me down even though my circumstances may be disappointing. Help me to never stop waiting for, hoping for, and expecting You. In Jesus' Name.

Amen.