The Psalmist says, “So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!” (Psalms 31:24 NLT). There is strength in hope, so long as that hope is in God, his word and in his promises. Hope that is placed in God is confidence in his omnipotence and his ability to make all things right and possible.
Let us keep in mind Piper’s words of what the Christian hope is, “Christian hope is when God has promised that something is going to happen and you put your trust in that promise. Christian hope is a confidence that something will come to pass because God has promised it will come to pass.” By implication, how do we get spiritually equipped to have confidence in what God has said would happen? We experience strength in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit equips us with confidence to trust in what God has promised about the future. Paul says, “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,… that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love” (Ephesians 3:14-17 NKJV).
The strength to hope in what God has said about the future comes from the Holy Spirit. In real life, when hope lingers for too long the heart becomes sick (Prov.13:12). Therefore, hope that trusts in what God has said he would do can only come from the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).
Hope, according to the writer of the book of Hebrews is an anchor of the soul. It is the unshaken confidence in God’s ability and promises. Paul had hope in God, this was why he declared that “…for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day” (II Timothy 1:12 NKJV).
Strength comes through hope when such hope rests on God and his word. The writer of the Psalms has an unshaken confidence in God’s word. This is why he said, “Remember the word to your servant, upon which you have caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, For Your word has given me life” (Psalms 119:49-50 NKJV).
Abraham drew strength in hope because he knew that he who has promised is able to keep his promises. “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform” (Romans 4:20-21 NKJV).
We gain strength in hope when we are able to praise God in all circumstances and situations; when hope looks beyond tribulation and realizes that affliction lasts “for a moment;” when we “do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (II Corinthians 4:18 NKJV).
We gain strength in hope when we realize that tribulation has its own benefit. It prepares us to fulfil our destiny and for God’s purpose for our lives.
Lastly, Jeremiah says, “There is hope in your future, says the LORD, That your children shall come back to their own border” (Jeremiah 31:17 NKJV). Our future is guaranteed; it is as certain as today. It will not fail us. This is incontrovertible.
Contact: pastoracukachi@gmail.com
