Finding Hope in Difficult Times

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Finding Hope

Hope
means, “to desire something with confident expectation of its
fulfillment.” The state of Hopelessness has been aptly described
as a type of “Hell on Earth,” filled with endless
despondency and despair.

Today,
more and more people are finding themselves alone and depressed, and
few of us have not at one time, or another felt the sting of
despondency and despair.

But
Good news! Help is available, not the kind the world has, wherein it
wishes for the best. It is one thing to wish, and quite another to
have hope based on the promises of God.

God is Our Source

Paul
wrote that when you place your trust in God, He will fill you with
peace, joy, and assurance, (Rom 15:13).

Throughout
the Bible, God proves His faithfulness to His people by leading them
safely through or delivering them from all their predicaments and
troubles. He will never leave or forsake His people; His plans are to
prosper, not to harm them (Jer 29:11).

People
and things will always let us down. In Psa 33:17, the horse, often
used as a symbol of power, is declared a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength, it cannot save.

In Jer 17:5 God
sternly warns against placing our dependency on man and calls it a
curse.

God
wants us to trust in Him. Psa 147:11 tells us that He is delighted
when we put our trust in Him, and in Heb 10:23 we are told to rely on
Him for He who promised it is faithful.

Finding Help

To reap the benefits of the Christian life and to have
protection, guidance, freedom from depression, and advice from the Holy Spirit one must first
be born again and become a Child of God.

The
born again Child of God has the unique privilege of talking to and
hearing from God, but this, the greatest resource available, is often
neglected.

Christians
should always pray! Even in the darkest moments when you don’t feel
His presence and think you will never smile again, pray anyway because He is there. He is listening and is an “ever-present
help in time of trouble,” (Psa 46:1).

“He
has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On
him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us,”
(2 Cor 1:10).

When
we place our faith in God and the resurrection of Jesus from the
dead, we then trust Him to take us to Heaven. If we can trust Him
with our eternity, surely we can trust Him for our earthly/daily
cares.

Jesus
said that as God clothes the grass of the field, so will He clothe us
even more. He tells us not to worry about what we shall eat or drink
or how we will be clothed. The “heavenly father knoweth that ye
have need of all these things,” (Matt 6:30-32).

“Eye
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him,”
(1 Cor 2:9).

Hope in Difficult Times

Even
if you reach what you consider to be your lowest point, God’s Word
says’s He will never leave or forsake you, (Matt 28:20).

He
will give you peace and comfort even in the worst of circumstances,
then lead you through, over or around the muck and mire of your
situation, and again set your feet on solid ground.

Our God is the God of new beginnings, with Him, nothing is impossible. Whether you are very young or considered to be very old, trust in Him because with Him it is always just the beginning.

You
may even find yourself in such a situation through divorce, death of
a spouse, loss of health, finances, or whatever, that may force you
to begin all over again, but is that so bad? Trusting God in
difficult times forces us to seek His guidance, and to trust in Him.

Trusting
God through these uncharted waters takes faith and courage, but is
worth every effort. The path of His choosing is the only one that
leads to true happiness,

Isn’t
this a wonderful promise “…those who hope in the LORD will
renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will
run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint,” (Is
40:31).

Even in the Worst of Situations

A
shining example of living with hope is Victor Frankel, a former
prisoner in a Nazi prison camp.

“As
a long-time prisoner in bestial concentration camps he [Viktor
Frankel] found himself stripped to naked existence. His father,
mother, brother, and his wife died in camps or were sent to gas
ovens, so that, excepting for his sister, his entire family perished
in these camps.

How
could he – every possession lost, every value destroyed, suffering
from hunger, cold and brutality, hourly expecting extermination – how
could he find life worth preserving?”

In
one of his darkest moments while digging in a cold icy trench, he
writes:

“In
a last violent protest against the hopelessness of imminent death, I
sensed my spirit piercing through the enveloping gloom. I felt it
transcend that hopeless, meaningless world, and from somewhere I
heard a victorious ‘Yes’ in answer to my question of the existence of
an ultimate purpose.

At
that moment a light was lit in a distant farmhouse, which stood on
the horizon as if painted there, in the midst of the miserable grey
of a dawning morning in Bavaria. ‘Et lux in tenebris lucent’–and the
light shineth in the darkness.”

From
one of His Counseling Sessions

“This
young woman knew that she would die in the next few days. But when I
talked to her she was cheerful in spite of this knowledge. ‘I am
grateful that fate has hit me so hard,’ she told me. ‘In my former
life I was spoiled and did not take spiritual accomplishments
seriously.’

Pointing
through the window of the hut, she said, ‘This tree here is the only
friend I have in my loneliness.’ Through that window she could see
just one branch of a chestnut tree, and on the branch were two
blossoms. ‘I often talk to this tree,’ she said to me.

I
was startled and didn’t quite know how to take her words. Was she
delirious? Did she have occasional hallucinations? Anxiously I asked
her if the tree replied. ‘Yes.’ What did it say to her? She answered,
‘It said to me, “I am here–I am here–I am life, eternal life.”
(“www.rjgeib.com/thoughts/frankl/frankl.html”)

Jesus is Our Solid Rock

Christians
can find peace during times of crises and trials that often drive
others to drink or suicide. This is the blessed comfort of the Holy
Spirit, who indwells every born again Believer.

Through
Him, even in the midst of terrible devastating and humiliating
experiences, Christians can have the peace, joy, and hope that passes
all understanding, (Phil 4:7).

Hope
for Eternity

Jesus
is our solid rock, and because of Him, death is not the end. Even
when the angels carry us to our glorious home in Heaven, we can know
that He is with us and that it is just the beginning.

Claim His Promises

God’s
promises are indeed a genuine source of hope that does not
disappoint. It is in His promises you will find everlasting
life and confident hope.

“For no matter how many
promises God has made, they are “Yes,” in Christ, (2 Cor 1: 20).

“May
the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing
[through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy
Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling
over) with hope.” (Rom 15:13, Amp).

“Why
are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your
hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God,”
(Psa 42:5).

Samuel L Mills