Without Hope

Hope, people so desperately need it. Hope keeps a person going, giving strength to endure knowing the future will be brighter. Loss of hope causes a person to fall into utter despair, feeling there is no way out.

Recently, I witnessed a person who completely lost hope. I could not save this person. As quickly as the opportunity would have come, it was gone. The person left this life without hope. Since that moment, I have been processing and thinking through life without hope. What caused him to get to the place where ending his life was better than working through difficulties and finding hope in the midst?

The book of Psalms is filled with struggles David and others faced as they worked through turmoil and dark emotions. In feelings of utter despair, they saw hope.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” (Psalm 42:5)

Hope in God. Turn to God in despair and hold on to the hope that He provides. God fills us with hope at the moment of salvation. We can have hope in this life because we have a living hope, an eternal hope. What we experience in this life is nothing in comparison to the glorious future we will experience. Though that is future, God does not ask us to experience the present alone. He gives us all we need to endure the struggles of this present life and reminds us to “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)

Did this young man know about the hope he could have in Christ? Maybe no one ever shared the hope of heaven with him. Maybe he knew God, but lost sight of the strength and power God provides in suffering when all seems hopeless. I could not save him. I cannot save any person. I can only point them to the One who can save.

There is so much sadness, heartache, and pain in this world, but through Jesus, hope, grace, and love abound. People need to know this. It is why I am here, why you are here, to share with the world the hope we have in Jesus.

What are you doing to offer this hope?

Are you ministering into the lives of others?

Are you pointing them to Him?

Hope – our world needs it. If only a sliver of hope had brightened this young man’s life, his family would not be grieving him today. Share hope in God and allow Him to transform despair into rejoicing.

In His Love,

Susan