Hope for the New Year
The new year is upon us and like many other folks, I wonder what it will bring. Like so many, I hope that the new year will bring good health, productive work, financial stability, personal growth yet many carry the burden of hopelessness because of what has or hasn't happened in their lives. They've lost hope and see only a dark, forboading future in the new year.
What is hope anyway? It's the desire for something good with the anticipation of receiving it. It's looking forward-not back. It's searching for something positive that enlarges our vision and gives a sense of purpose and fulfillment not something negative that detracts leaving a sense of futility. What do people put their hope in? Unfortunately, too many hope in the wrong things only to end up disillusioned, crushed in spirit and filled with a sense of hopelessness and futility.
Putting hope in other people, the government, the economy, our jobs or achievements and investments, only disappoints. We have only to look at what has happened to our economy in recent months to see how the "American Dream" has become a nightmare. Greed, misappropriation of funds and mismanagement have caused businesses to fail, the stock market to tumble, retirement funds, savings, jobs and homes lost while unemployment soars and crime escalates. Many have been talking about and hope for "change" but at what cost to individual freedoms and dreams and exactly what kind of "change" do they want? While folks may put hope in government stimulus packages and bailouts, they are nothing more than bandaides on a spreading cancer that threatens every one. The soul of America has been tarnished by greed, caloused by indifference and blighted by immorality and an unholy disrespect for God. We've thrown God out of the classroom and out of public life putting our hope in ourselves to fix the problems. Focusing on temporal things to the exclusion of spiritual always leads to an unbalanced, unhealthy view of life that results in a sense of hopelessness.
People loose hope when they feel out of control of their circumstances. A sense of hopelessness comes when we feel our situation is too great for us to handle and we worry that we're failing or going to disappoint others. But one thing is certain, we cannot disappoint God even when we do fail. God knows us and loves us regardless of what we do or don't do in life. Jobs, investments, the economy, the government, our health and people may fail us, but God never will.
Sometimes people feel abandoned by God but this is a tactic Satan uses to tempt us into thinking that God has turned His back on us. As His own dear children, nothing could be further from the truth because God loves us with an eternal love, and He will always take care of us as He cares for the sparrow. He has promised He will never leave us or forsake us no matter how difficult the situation is or how dark the night.
Some folks lose hope when dreams and plans seem delayed. We live in a society where we want instant results. We want it, and we want it NOW! We grow impatient when we have to wait even if it's for a little while. Remember David knew God had anointed him king, yet he had to wait years before this became a reality. Israel was enslaved in Egypt for 400 years before freedom was experienced. The Hebrew nation wandered 40 years in the desert before the dream of the promised land was finally realized. Dreams take time and effort and patience. We should never give up believing in God's blessing because He never gives up on us even though we are sinners deserving of eternal punishment. In Jesus Christ we have been given salvation through faith. His blood cleanses us and frees us from the stigma of sin and punishment. His grace is poured out on us in a continual flow. The moment you give up may be the moment right before He unleashes His greatest blessing. Trust Him and He will do what He has promised in your life according to His timetable not yours. We must follow His lead.
Some people lose hope when dreams and plans seem shattered. There will be times when we long for a certain event to happen but then we discover that God has altered our plans. He wants only the best for His children-not what we think is best for us. In times when our dreams seem fleeting and our plans broken, we must turn toward the Lord and trust Him even if it means changing our dreams and plans. We need to remember that His timetable is not in sync with ours because His is divine, while ours is physical but He always has our best interests in mind. Isaiah 40:31 promises "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." This is God's hope, not the human hope we often cling to that disappoints and discourages. God's hope renews, refreshes and uplifts giving us a new perspective, a new energy, purpose and vision for the future.
Someone once said that "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards." That's good advice as we look to the new year. We cannot always understand God's plan for our lives, only that He has a perfect plan that we can't always understand, but as long as we are faithful to Him, His wonderful plan will be realized in His time and we will eventually see that His ways are always best. Our lives are really a life-long test of trust in Him and Him alone, not in the things and people around us which will always disappoint. Divine hope always outrumpts human hope.
Like the psalmist we can raise our voice, "In You, O Lord, I put my trust. Let me never be put to shame." Psalm 71 is a beautiful song extoling God as the Rock of our salvation. Read it as a prayer and let it affirm your hope in the Lord for the New Year.
Hoping in Jesus,
Mary, Web Editor
