“My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” “Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice. . .” Hope – With so many things happening in our world with the coronovirus pandemic, how many of us have “hoped” that things would return to normal? What is hope? The dictionary would probably say something about hope being an expectation, an anticipation that things will be better in the future. I read a quote today by Jean Kerr that I can’t stop thinking about – She said, “Hope is the feeling you have that the feeling you have isn’t permanent.” Yes, hope tells us to Hold On, Pain Ends.
In Romans 15:13, we read that “. . . the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” God is a God of hope! The Psalmist knew for he said – “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope [is] in thee.” (Psalm 39:7) The Hebrew writer tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) We are “saved by hope.” (Romans 8:24) And now abideth these three, faith, hope, and love, and the greatest of these is love.” (I Corinthians 13:13) We always concentrate on love in this chapter of love, but we mustn’t ignore that faith and hope abideth, and our faith is what gives us hope – hope of life beyond death. We have hope of those mansions that Jesus has gone to prepare.
“By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” (Romans 5:2-5) Yes, it is because of the experiences that we ‘re going through that let us know that the feelings that we’ve been feeling aren’t permanent. For “blessed [is] the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.” (Jeremiah 17:7) For we are all – simply blessed, Courtney
Love your “Hope” lesson–“expectation and desire” was the definition I use.