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“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.” Psalm 16:9 (KJV)

Old Testament

“In the Old Testament hope is expressed by several different words meaning ‘safety, security, trust,”1

Hope hōp/Submit noun 1.a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.

"he looked through her belongings in the hope of coming across some information"

Synonyms: aspiration, desire, wish, expectation, ambition, aim, goal, plan, design; more

2. archaic, a feeling of trust.

Verbs 1- want something to happen or be the case. "he's hoping for an offer of compensation"

Synonyms: expect, anticipate, look for, be hopeful of, pin one's hopes on, want; 2

We sing several gospel songs about hope. One that comes to mind is, “My Hope is in You, LORD.” We have hymns of the church that tell us about hope. One line in the hymn ‘Great Is Thy Faithfulness” stands out to me “Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.”

Back in 1999, I took on a short-term job, to oversee a daycare during a large church general conference held in our town. Part of my work was planning ahead of time. One thing that concerned me was I did not know how many to plan for. The parents did not pre-register their children. This inaction frustrated me. I had no way of knowing how many children we would have.

The day before the conference began, I received a phone call from a person who worked at denominational headquarters and had spoken at our church few months earlier. The young woman ended our conversation with the words from “Great is thy Faithfulness,” ‘Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow.’ I never forgot those words. A few years ago, I made a sign for the wall of my writing room, using that phrase.

In our 21Century world, we need hope. People lose hope and do serious deeds that either cease or change their lives or end or alter the lives of others. We need to learn how to handle our frustrations, rages, and our hurts. We should learn to listen to those who confide in us about their heartaches.

We need to believe what we read in our Bibles and live it out before our families, friends, and neighbors. We need to learn scripture and apply it to our daily lives. Then, I believe we will show hope to our hurting world.

New Testament

“And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)

“In the New Testament, Hope means ‘the expectation of good.’ The original word denotes a joyful and contented expectation of eternal salvation.” 3.

I love the chapter this verse ends. These words are like a coda at the end of a musical piece. Paul reminds his readers of what is important in life. He lists three lasting qualities of life.

We need to have hope in order to go forth in life. Events and circumstances in life sometime cause people to lose their hope. When a person becomes hopeless, that state of mind leads to grief for those around us.

Right now, I am trusting God for several different outcomes. I have to have hope in the LORD for these things or I would become very depressed. I have traveled the road to sadness and depression. I recently realized I had been in a rut. Slowly, I am making progress out of the mire in which I happened to find myself.

As I study our church’s prayer list, I see the need for people to have faith and hope. As one of the practices I do when I read the local newspaper, I read the obituaries. I focus on the families and the deceased person’s involvement in a church. In those instances where the person knew God, I believe those families have hope to see their loved one again in heaven.

_________

1. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary, Moody Press, Chicago, revised 1988, page 585

2. Ibid

3. Ibid.

"Voice of Inspiration" from Andy Castro

Long Life-Psalms 91:16