HOPE

I hope I get an A on the final exam. I hope the weather is nice for the picnic. I hope I can find a new outfit for the wedding. I hope he/she likes me. I hope the surgery goes well. I hope the recovery is short.

What is hope??

The dictionary defines hope as: 1. a feeling that what is wanted will happen; desire accompanied by expectation. Name it -- claim it ,,,I don't think so.

Just because I hope someone will like me doesn't mean they will -- they might hate me!
Just because I hope surgery will go well and recovery will be short , doesn't mean it will -- the surgery might be way more complicated then anyone expected and there might be double or triple the recovery time. Does that mean I'm lousy at hope or my hope isn't as good as yours?? Or am I looking at hope in the wrong way? On one of those "big" birthday's when I was having trouble dealing with the number ( oh to have that number again -- hope??) someone wrote in my card Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope and a future. When the world thinks about hope it's a, I wish it so-- but when God talks about hope it's certainty. Do we need to think along those lines? It's natural to want to get A's ,, have people like us,, look nice at events,, and have blue skies and no troubles all the time, but what about when the bottom falls out of everything -- when all the news is grim and you're not sure about tomorrow?? Do we want to hear Jeremiah 29:11 ?? Can I then as Peter puts it in I Peter 3:15 ....be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope you have.... Can I say what I hope for or can I say WHO I hope in.. hope }not --I wish it so .. but hope} that I know who holds tomorrow and I am CERTAIN it will all work out-- I don't know how it will work out but it will. I'm reminded of a hymn LSB 575 My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness;
No merit of my own I claim But wholly lean on Jesus' name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

The world would have us believe the name it claim it game ,but unfortunately that only leads to sinking sand............My hope --- The world's hope is in the shed blood on Calvary's Cross
where I can stand securely not by my own power but because of Jesus.......so no matter what tomorrow may bring I know who holds tomorrow and that's my hope.......my certainty!


Oh and when I start going off about Oh woe is me ----- tell me to read my own blog or better yet -- God's Word !!