Psalm 25:5

One of my favorite songs is My Hope Is In You by Aaron Shust.  They used to play it after church and I guess I got stuck in my head enough for me to buy it and listen to it a hundred more times. The lyrics basically say just that: my hope is in You Lord all the day long.

It caused me to evaluate and think about what I was singing.  My hope is in You Lord?  I understood what trust means.  I can tell you all about what faith means even throughout times in my life when faith is lacking.  But to hope in the Lord was something I couldn’t quite wrap my mind around.

So often we get caught up saying ‘I hope I do this or that.’  “I hope I can get tickets to the game,” “I hope I can land this job,” “I hope I get to go here.”  Saying this isn’t wrong in the least but the idea of hoping solely for the Lord may cause you to think about things with a different perspective.   I found that I had been hoping for a lot of things that I desired.  If I didn’t get them I would allow it to impact my mood.

I’ve heard the saying ‘If you don’t hope for anything you’ll never be disappointed when it doesn’t happen.’  What a terrible way to live.  Someone thought (and convinced a lot of other people) that if they could not hope at all they could combat the disappoint that comes from not getting the thing you hope for.  The reality is both of these feelings result in depressing lives.

We are human. We need hope to survive. The only way to hope without being disappointed is to hope in the Lord.

But what does that mean?  To hope in the Lord is to believe wholeheartedly that he loves us too much to let anything happen that he won’t use for our good.  Ephesians 3:18 talks about how deep and wide and long and high God’s love is for us.  When you love someone and have the power to help them you do.  Find hope in God’s love and His power to bring things about no matter the circumstance (Romans 4:17, Ephesians 3:20).  Find hope in the fact that He knows what’s best for you, loves you, and desires to use you.  While it may be hard at first, when you solely hope in His plan and what He has for you it is impossible to be disappointed.

“…for you are God my Savior and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:5

“All my hope is in you. All my strength is in you. With every breath my soul will rest in you. All the earth beneath you. All my life before you. With every breath my soul will rest in You.” -All My Hope, Hillsong