Job praised the Lord and proclaimed “yet I will still hope” after his everything was stripped away from him. We see that despite great loss, he had hope.
In looking at why Job still had hope {even though he grieved the loss of his family} we see that his perspective and attitude was to praise the Lord no.matter.what. The Lord gives and takes away, but Job still blessed His name.
I think this shows us that what we place our hope in plays a great role in whether we can hold onto that hope or not.
In our human flesh, it is impossible for us to be joyful, hopeful, perfectly peaceful 100% of the time. But, look at the key to our hope in Psalm 42:5.
“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.” Psalm 42:5
God gives us the key to hope in this passage. Himself.
Put your hope in God.
Seems simple enough, right? Should be a quick fix. Three simple steps to finding hope in God!
Wrong. Nothing about our faith walk is “three simple steps.” There is always more of Jesus to be had. There is always a closer walk, another verse to cling to, another truth to grasp.
So, how do we place our hope in God?
If you’ve been a believer a long time, you may think this is elementary knowledge here. Oh, but sweet friends, elementary knowledge still has to make its way deep into our hearts!!
Think for a moment with me…when you wake up in the morning, what do you look most forward to? When you walk in the door to your home after being gone for several hours or days, what lights up your face? What might you receive in the mail that would change your entire attitude? When you are having a hard time and struggling with something, what do you do to make yourself feel better?
I think there are many times that we place our hope in things {other than God} but don’t even realize it!
Some of these false-hope-givers would be:
- Family
- Marriage/spouse
- A great job
- A pay increase
- An unexpected inheritance
- A coffee drink to brighten our day
- Chocolate to ease the rough day
Hear me loud and clear, precious ones, none of these things are wrong in and of themselves. But, when we begin to look forward to the gifts more than we thank the Giver, our hope is displaced.
Where is your hope today?
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