What is it about hope that allows us to face seemingly impossible situations without turning away? It almost seems an arrogant gall, but it’s really an idea that maybe things will get better, that I will get through this and that things will be better on the other side. But the real definition of hope to me is one that’s tied to Jesus, for hope without a God seems rather shallow. I love the definition of hope by Merriam-Webster: “To cherish a desire with anticipation; to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment; to expect with confidence.” There is expectation with hope. If you are going to expect something, I hope you have a promise made by someone of good character. Otherwise, you are going to have a lot of failed hopes.
But our God is good. He loves us. And He has a plan for our good. Sometimes it doesn’t feel that way, I know. That’s where hope stands in the gap for us. I think of the story of David and Goliath and the idiocy of this kid to think he can fight a giant!! His response, though, to Goliath when he taunts him is so confident:
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.” 1 Samuel 17:45-47
Hope can allow the smallest to stand up to a giant, not because there is something amazing about them, but because their God is so mighty and they know it. It looks crazy to everybody else, but David knows His God will come through. So, then, hope requires faith.
This is the hope I have for you today. You can make it through, even if you are facing a giant, because you have a mighty, loving God in you. You are not alone and you are not abandoned. You can face the pain, the fear, the grief, the mundane—all because the battle is the Lord’s and you have a hope.