Have Hope

( This is for Ms. Lo who has been encouraging me to get to writing)

Recently I was speaking to a high school senior. She told me she was worried because she didn’t know where she would get the money to pay to complete her schooling. Here in Kenya schools are not free. You have to pay to attend. Tracy & I get this a lot here. I call it the "Great White Hope" syndrome. People think because we are from America that we have lots and lots of money. They look to us to help them. We do try and help where we can. Mostly though the best help we can offer is to point them back to God, the author and finisher of our faith (and our hope.) I told this student we would try and help some but that our monthly support we receive had been cut in half recently, probably due to COVID. She thanked me but as she walked away she still seemed like she had lost hope.

It is easy for us to lose hope. We face so many difficulties. We have so many problems. 2020 has brought many things for us to feel hopeless about. We wonder how will we get through this?

Psalm 42:11 tells us, “Why are you downcast oh my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God for I will yet praise Him, my savior and my God."

This was written by the Sons of Korah (musicians & worship leaders). Scholars believe this was probably written during the Babylonian exile when they were far from Jerusalem and could no longer worship God in the temple. Worse they were in a foreign land surrounded by foreign gods and feeling cut off from the presence of the Lord.

Notice how the passage starts out hopeless, they are depressed and their spirit is disturbed. However at the end they have hope in God.

Heb 11:1 says, “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Hope is the language of faith when the evidence of God’s care for us doesn’t seem clear. So how do we get and keep hope?

In 1 Tim 6:17 Paul tells us, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Worldly wealth is nice but Jesus told us in Mat 6:20 to store up treasure in Heaven. We do this by doing good, showing generosity, providing for the needs of your neighbor, and by seeking the spiritual good in others and ourselves.

So searching for hope in wealth is not the answer. Indeed Jesus tells us the opposite, we should use our money to bring hope to others. Paul, like The Sons of Korah, tells us to put our hope in God. I'm sensing a theme here, are you?

In Col 3:2 we read, “Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth”

This means to make things above (Heaven, God, Jesus etc.) your heart’s central focus. Earthly things must not be permitted to take precedence over the things of God, His word, His service, & His praise. I don't know about you but since the 2020 presidential election, I have been having a hard time not letting the things of earth take over my thoughts. I have been bombarded with news stories, prophesies, YouTube videos and conspiracy theories. It's been hard to think about anything else but what is going on in the country

So keeping our mind on Heaven & God can be difficult. This is why Paul tells us in 1 Tim 4:10 “That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe.”

Paul tells us we are to strive and labor to keep our thoughts on God thereby maintaining our hope. What this means may be different for each individual. My pastor told me the story of the great evangelist Smith Wigglesworth. One day a friend came to visit him. The friend had a newspaper with him. Smith told the man to leave the paper outside. He was striving so hard to not let earthly things take precedence in his life that he didn't even want a newspaper in his home.

Maybe we ought to try this in our own lives, turn off the 24 hour news, stay away from the social media and internet and quit watching YouTube. I heard a preacher say once that we need to "Practice being in the presence of God and listening to His voice." What this means is that we need to go somewhere quiet, away from distractions and just sit a wait for God to speak to us. The preacher said we need to practice because this will not come easy to most people. It doesn't for me, with my undiagnosed ADD. I come out to the living room at 5 in the morning and I sit on the couch and listen for God's voice. You know what? He has always spoken to me, usually what I need to know for that day or sometimes things that are going to take place in the future. The thing is God is always speaking, we just need to listen. And when we listen, God will always give us words of hope.



So I would like to end with the passage that I shared with that teenage girl. It is one of my favorite Psalms, number 121 (my other favorites are 51 & 91). I never cease to find comfort and hope in these words.


I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip He who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all harm he will watch over your life;

the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.So no matter who the president is, no matter what the government or big tech does, even in the midst of persecution, we have a God who watches over us. He will never leave us or forget us. And that is where our hope comes from.