Finding hope in hopeless times
Job 17: 15 …and where is now my hope?
We are living in perilous times. Trouble surrounds us on every side. Negative reports make headlines in the press. Locally, you hear of increasing job losses, soaring crime rate, worsening cash shortages, more company closures and turning of able-bodied people into beggars. Regionally and globally, there are unending wars and rumours of wars, frequent air crashes and emergence of life-threatening diseases like Ebola.
These troubles are enough to fill us with fear, uncertainty and despair. We worry about what the future holds for us when the present times are such volatile and alarming. Going through the worst hopeless times of his life, Job of Uz posed a question that perfectly applies even to us today. In the darkest and hopeless hour of his sufferings Job asked, “Where is now my hope?” (Job 17:15). Gold had failed him. His friends were miserable faultfinders. His wife had challenged him to curse God and die. Does the question sound familiar in your life? And how do you react or respond to hopeless times?
It is normal that people react to troubles in different ways. Some nurse a death wish and walk around complaining, cursing and fuming about why God does not do something. Others do not only wish for death but they go a step further and actually commit suicide. Still others become violent and cause havoc to everyone they come in contact with trying to get some sadistic satisfaction. A large percentage of people in the world are trying to escape the despair of life by leaning on false hopes like excessive drinking of alcohol, accumulation of money and possessions even through unworthy means, and becoming pleasure-seekers. This group behaves as if they wear placards written, “Let us eat and drink today for tomorrow we shall die.”
If you feel that there is no hope for you, do not take your life. Life is better than death for things can change in life but not after death. Everyone is facing hopeless situations only that our attitudes and degrees of fortitude differ. Moreover, there is a way of finding hope in hopeless times. Let the times be hopeless but let your heart rejoice in the hope that God is never caught off guard or by surprise.
You can put your hope in God and find comfort in calamitous times. It is spiritual hope that sustains people in hopeless times. It is written in Romans chapter four, ‘against hope Abraham believed in hope’. His circumstances were filled with anxiety, uncertainty and hopelessness. But because his hope in God was his anchor, he was steadfast and circumstances could not move him. You can find the same redemptive, unending, courageous and protective hope by receiving Jesus Christ into your heart. Christ will come into your life as the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27) and no one who hopes in Him will ever be put to shame.
If you are already a believer you can fix your hope in God and his unchanging word, and you will dwell securely and dance in the midst of unstable, perplexing and confusing circumstances. That is exactly what Abraham did. Instead of looking at his hopeless circumstances and becoming fearful and perturbed, he hoped in the goodness and faithfulness of God and kept giving praise and glory to God. God is the worthy object of hope, not money or possessions. Things change but God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. No one is hopeless whose is in God.
