Hope in Every Situation

Our only hope to be exalted out of our present situations is to put our hope in God who can free us from the evils of life. Hope is what God has given us to be able to hang on through one more day. Hope is the light at the end of the tunnel that gives us the fortitude to take one more step, as we trudge through the stuff that pulls us down. Hope in Christ Jesus our Lord is what enables us to overcome. And when we fail to put our hope and trust in God, we begin to worry because we are hoping in our own power, which is prideful. For pride is thinking we are better than we are and can do more than we can. Our only hope to be exalted in our difficult situations is to humble ourselves and put our hope and faith in the God who can free us. Our hope is not that God will take away our troubles, but that He will give us the strength to bear our burdens and the power to make it through our adversities.

Hope is found when we focus on God regardless of what is happening in our life — whether good or bad. 

Colossians 3 tells us how we are to set our minds on God and find hope in His glory.

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” Colossians 3:1-4 (NKJV)

When we focus our hope on God instead of ourselves, we can overcome the stuff in our lives as we set our minds on God instead of the things of this life.

As a child, I was smart and athletic, but even though I had everything a person could put their hope in, but my greater hope was in Christ Jesus. Because my hope was in Christ, I was able to persevere through the trials of my accident and develop a stronger character that did not falter when life changed the playing field. Christ is the same regardless of the situations in my life. Even though I could not walk, talk, or even move, my life did not have to be horrible because my hope was not in any of my own abilities. 

My hope was in a God who never left me.

I have learned that I can have hope whether life is good or bad. Because of my accident, I have gained a greater sense of hope in my life. After living with my disabilities for years, I can become comfortable with my abilities — with what I can and cannot do. Since I have completed a degree in school and seen my life come back together, I need to constantly remember that my hope is not in the good things God has given me, but in His goodness alone.

A few years ago, I was let go from a job I had held for several years, and I had to relearn and practice how to find hope in God when life did not go my way. As the year went on, I began to worry and wonder about my future and God’s plan for my life. I found that I could not find hope in all the other securities of life, but my focus had to be on God. While it was by no means fun to lose my job, I look back at that event and see that God used it to continue to build my hope in Him. I had to learn that my job was what I did, not who I was. 

My identity is in Christ alone. All the other things I do are not who I am. 

As a child, I learned to hope in God even when I was utterly disabled and lacked many of the good things in life. As an adult, I learned to find my hope in God even when I lost my job and the securities of life.