What is Hope?



Hope, everyone wants it to be an integral part of their being. Hope is defined as "a general feeling that some desire will be fulfilled". I like to define it as "an expectation of a positive outcome".  People filled with hope will be true optimists and go through life with a song in their heart.
How do we experience these positive expectations in a world filled with political unrest, natural disasters, crime, hate, poverty, etc.? The only answer lies in a relationship with the Creator and Redeemer of mankind.

My hope is built on nothing less, 

than Jesus blood and righteousness. 

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, 
But wholly lean on Jesus name.

On Christ, the Solid Rock, I stand, 
All other ground is sinking sand.

True hope will be grounded in the character of God.

1. God is Omnipotent - all powerful:

Got any rivers you think are uncrossable?

Got any mountains you can't tunnel through?

God specializes in things thought impossible.

He does the things others cannot do.

 

2. God is Omniscient - all knowing:

 I don't know what the future holds, 
But I know Who holds the future.
I may listen to a thousand tongues 
But I only hear one Whisper.
If I act upon that Voice of Love, 
Then I know I am a seeker.
I can't see much past the present, 
But I know Who holds the future. 

3. God is Omnipresent - everywhere present:

"Where can I go from your Spirit? 
Where can I flee from your presence?

If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
 If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn. 
If I settle on the far side of the sea,

 Even there your hand will guide me, 
Your right hand will hold me fast."
Psalm 139: 7-10

The basis for our hope is summed up in a duet my parents would sing from a Rodeheaver hymn book:

                     One sat alone, beside the highway begging.

                      His eyes were blind, the light he could not see.

                      He clutched his rags, and shivered in the shadows.

                      Then Jesus came, and caused his eyes to see.

                     When Jesus comes, the tempter's power is broken.

                      When Jesus comes, all fear is washed away.

                      He takes the gloom and fills the heart with gladness.

                      For all is changed, when Jesus comes to stay.
 

Put your hope  - your expectation of a positive outcome - in God, who richly provides for us.
I Timothy 6:17