Hope is eager expectation of something good.
1) Hope is inseparable from faith.
Hebrews 11:1 (KJ21) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2) Our hope is never in a situation, a person or even in ourselves. It is always in God Himself, His character, His qualities, His very Person.
Psalm 25:5 Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.
Psalm 31:24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 33:
16 No king is saved by the size of his army;
no warrior escapes by his great strength.
17 A horse is a vain hope for deliverance;
despite all its great strength it cannot save.
18 But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
19 to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.20 We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
21 In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.
22 May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
3) Our hope is especially in God’s unfailing love for us, which leads to His complete and full redemption of us from sin owning us to God owning and changing us into His likeness.
Psalm 130:7 Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
4) We can also hope in His Word.
Psalm 119:74 May those who fear you rejoice when they see me, for I have put my hope in your word.
Psalm 119:116 Sustain me, my God, according to your promise, and I will live; do not let my hopes be dashed.
Psalm 119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help; I have put my hope in your word.
5) There is hope for people who have gotten into situations due to their own ignorance or deliberate sin.
Ezra 10:2 Then Shekaniah son of Jehiel, one of the descendants of Elam, said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women from the peoples around us. But in spite of this, there is still hope for Israel.
Proverbs 23:18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.
Isaiah 40:27 –
Why do you complain, Jacob?
Why do you say, Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord;
my cause is disregarded by my God”?
28 Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow tired or weary,
and his understanding no one can fathom.
29 He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
30 Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
31 but 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.For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Lamentations 3:
19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.
20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.
21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the Lord.
27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke
while he is young.28 Let him sit alone in silence,
for the Lord has laid it on him.
29 Let him bury his face in the dust—
there may yet be hope.
30 Let him offer his cheek to one who would strike him,
and let him be filled with disgrace.31 For no one is cast off
by the Lord forever.
32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love.
33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to anyone.
Hope comes only from trusting in God, and hope can come not from our mind but straight from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
And hope causes endurance.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ecclesiastes 9:4 Anyone who is among the living has hope—even a live dog is better off than a dead lion!
There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. Clare Boothe Luce
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned. When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope!
Those animals somehow hoped that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them. If hope holds such power for unthinking rodents, how much greater should is effect be on our lives. Today in the Word, May, 1990, p. 34.