Hope in the In-Between - Devotion 4

December 5, 2024 5:00 AM

Disappointed in Hope 

The title of today’s devotional can be a bit off-putting. How can you be disappointed in hope? I mean, hope means that you are actually hoping, right? Doesn’t that mean that you are not disappointed? I wish that were true.  

What happens when:  
• Your marriage is struggling, and no matter what you do, it does not seem to get better.  
• Your loved one is diagnosed with cancer. This is the second round of chemo, and you do not have any idea if it will actually work this time so that you will not have to go through it all again.  
• You have tried to get a job that would make ends meet, but with inflation and all of the bills you have, the pressure never lets up. Christmas gifts are not even possible this season.  
• You have experienced loneliness in very deep places, and every time you try to reach out to make friends, it seems like no one will care enough to stick with you.  
• You want to be married, but nothing has worked out and there does not seem to be any prospects around you. 

We could talk about so many different life circumstances, and maybe you are thinking specifically of where you have struggled. It can be easy to be disappointed in hope. 

Take a look at the list above. Really consider what came to mind as you read that list and possibly thought of how you have struggled. What is at the center of that struggle? What is at the center of any of the situations above? Misplaced hope. (That keeps coming up, doesn’t it?) 

We all go through so much as we live in between the Advents of Jesus. Hope came to us. Hope came in the form of a baby in the manger. He is the Son of God, born to be the hope that will never disappoint you. However, as you live on this earth, you will have struggles.  

God gives us a process that produces hope in you. This process is not easy, but it is good. Suffering in our lives produces endurance. Endurance helps us grow and learn. Endurance produces the character that God desires for us and knows that we will need to live in hope and in His will. This character is what produces hope because you are able to see God’s hand work in small and big ways. 

This is the hope that does not put you to shame, and that does not disappoint. You are loved by God. If you know Jesus as your Savior, the Holy Spirit dwells in you, and Jesus died for you at the right time. The death of Jesus in your place brings real and lasting hope. Hope in Him is NEVER misplaced. Hope in Jesus does not always make everything seem alright, but it brings us perspective to trust our God in the middle of even the toughest of circumstances.  

“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person - though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die - but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:2-8  

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