Dare to Hope

Life in a broken world is filled with challenges and disappointments. People disappoint us, circumstances disappoint us, we disappoint ourselves... and if we're really honest, at times we feel like God disappoints us.

Hope, therefore, is a crucial part of life. It offers perspective and motivation beyond current pain or challenges, just like a mother can endure the pain of childbirth because she knows the reward of holding her baby will be worth it.

But recurring, failed hope crushes us. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick" (Pr. 13:12).

Has your hope been dashed again and again? Are you waiting on something that still hasn't come? Depression and hopelessness from delayed or failed hope can swallow us. I believe Jeremiah felt it too when he described his troubles in Lamentations:

"My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.'" Lam. 3:17-18, ESV

It's not wrong to wrestle with hopelessness—it's part of living in a sin-cursed world. But if we stay stuck in the spiral of despair, we will lose motivation to live. 

Jeremiah gives us a beautiful example of what it means to speak the truth to your own heart in the midst of seeming impossibility:

"Yet I stil​l ​dare to hope when I remember this..." Lam. 3:21, NLT

Jeremiah's barely clinging to hope. His desperate circumstances probably make him feel like hope doesn't exist. Yet despite the hopelessness in and around him, he dares to hope in the steadfast love of God. In the One greater than the darkness surrounding him. In the One redeeming the worst of circumstances.

We too need this kind of tenacity. We need to desperately cling to hope outside of ourselves when things are at their worst. In spite of flailing emotions, we need to dare to hope in something, Someone, who is greater than our greatest fears or pain.

Whatever you're facing, dare to hope today in the steadfast love of God. He is the only source of hope that will never fail you.

Encountering Grace

Over the last few years, I can't count the number of days I've thought, "I can't make it through another day." I can't depict how much pain, fatigue, depression, heartache, and struggles have defeated me. Yet amidst it, God's redemptive work has been evident. I've begun to more fully grasp the amazing reality of God's grace.

There's a simple, but powerful, sentence in James:

("He gives more grace" - James 4:6)

This is the most hopeful news we can hear today.

Think about it...
Are you stuck in a sin pattern?
Lying on your bed in pain... again?
Facing considerable problems at your job?
Experiencing challenges with your children?
Fighting an uphill battle in ministry?
Walking through hurt or a broken relationship?
Wondering how to persevere through the mundane or hard?

In all of that, God offers grace. To you. Right now.

The grace we are offered is not grace to "get out" of the circumstance or pain, as we often desperately want. Rather, it's the grace to face whatever is before us.

More than that, it's grace that doesn't run out. Grace that isn't based on our performance. That is the beauty of God's grace. But we have to acknowledge our need for it (Ps. 86:6). We need to humble ourselves and run to the throne of grace.

And as we do that, we find hope and rest.

He Gives More Grace
So how does this concept of grace apply to me today?

Because of God's grace....

- I don't have to fall into self-pity or despair when I’m exhausted, weary, or struggling. Instead, I can look up to Christ. His power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).
He gives more grace.

- I can battle my sin. Yes, I have to work at it, but I can't do it on my own (1 Cor. 15:10).
He gives more grace.

- I can run to the throne and find receive mercy and forgiveness when I fail (Heb. 4:16).
He gives more grace.

- I can stop looking to myself, my performance, or my righteousness, and look to Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). 
He gives more grace.

Let's not miss the grace that is offered to us today.