In this Spiritual Life UPGRADE, Dawn Wilson invites readers to encourage their hearts with 
hope in God but not to stop there!
Confusion. Chaos. Deep wounds and pain. Disappointments. Betrayal. Again and again we face overwhelming circumstances.
And if it were not for the Lord, we would be overcome.
My sister Pam struggles with many trials, but she shines for Jesus as He continues to do a mighty work of grace in her life.
After a recent fresh struggle she texted me, “In darkness is hope.”
Her words struck me hard and made me cry, because I know how deep darkness has entered her life since childhood. But I’ve also seen the light of hope in God and His Word bring her peace, wisdom and joy.
Not too long ago, we celebrated the life of Martin Luther King Jr. The Reverend said in his final sermon in 1968, “only when it is dark enough can you see the stars.” Our greatest hope can come alive when we need it—and when we need the Lord—the most.
Words by the writer of Hebrews and the Old Testament Psalmist have become two resources of hope for me in recent days.
In Hebrews, we read, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and steadfast” (6:19a). Believers were encouraged to “take hold of the hope set before us” so they could be “strongly encouraged” (6:18b).
God’s kind of hope “does not disappoint us,” the Apostle Paul said, because “God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).
The need for hope goes back to the Garden of Eden, when the Lord gave the first two human sinners hope for salvation (what is commonly called the Protevangelium in Genesis 3:15). God's promise gave them great hope, even in the midst of their punishment for sin.
Throughout the Old Testament we sense the deep longing for the Messiah, the Promised One, to come. It was a cry of hope in God, and we hear that heart cry repeatedly in the psalms (Read Psalm 2; 22, 45; 72; and 110).
The cry for hope is loud in the psalms. Listen to the Psalmist’s prayer of lament and allow your heart to feel the pain.
“My heart is in anguish within me … fear and trembling come upon me, and horror overwhelms me” (Psalm 55:4-5)
But listen too to his honest plea for help and his assurance of God’s presence and help in the midst of his struggles.
“O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.… I cry to you, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my refuge….” (Psalms 54:2 and 142:5).
The Psalmist confidently proclaimed God as the source of his hope; and we need to point our hearts toward God and His Word too.
We need go beyond our own need for hope to encourage other people to place their hope in the Lord.
It’s wise to encourage hope because:
1. Hope brings spiritual and emotional rest.
“Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him” (Psalm 62:5).
2. Hope anticipates God’s response.
Job longed for God to grant what he hoped for (Job 6:8), but the Psalmist prayed with assurance: “Lord, I wait for you; you will answer, Lord my God” (Psalm 38:15).
3. Hope enables confidence in God’s sovereign care.
“For you have been my hope, Sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth” (Psalm 71:5).
4. Hope in God’s unfailing love delights His heart!
“The Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love” (Psalm 147:11).
There are, of course, many other reasons hope is a worthy focus for us and those we love. Pam Farrel wrote about many of them in her book, Discovering Hope in the Psalms: A Creative Bible Study Experience, which I recommend.
Why would we NOT encourage more hope? Be proactive. Think of at least one person you can encourage with God’s kind of hope TODAY.
Dawn Wilson, founder and President of Heart Choices Today, is a speaker and author, and the creator of three blogs: Heart Choices Today, LOL with God (with Pam Farrel), and Upgrade with Dawn. She is a contracted researcher/reviewer for Revive Our Hearts and a writer at Crosswalk.com. She and her husband Bob live in Southern California and have two grown, married sons, three granddaughters and a rascally maltipoo, Roscoe.
Graphic adapted, courtesy of Kareni at Pixabay.