"How God Meets Your Deepest Needs" in American Sign LanguageSample

Where God is, Hope Is
By Rick Warren

“May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 GWT)

At the end of World War II, an American sub returned to Newport News, Va., to dock. Something terrible happened as it came into port, and the sub began to sink. The Coast Guard was immediately dispatched to go out and save the crew. Divers swam down to the hull of the submarine to discover the problem. As the divers got close to the sub, they heard one inventive sailor using a hammer to tap on the hull and ask in Morse Code, “Is there hope?”

That’s a fundamental question of life —“Is life worth living?”

It’s asked every day by thousands of people in thousands of different ways:

•As you sit in the doctor’s office awaiting test results

•When a couple who’ve put months and months into counseling gets nowhere

•When dealing with a tax accountant in a bankruptcy court

•When a family hears their child is missing

You can go 40 days without food and three days without water. You can go eight minutes without air. But you can’t go a single second without hope. It’s an essential part of life. When hope is gone, life is over.

Because hope is in such short supply in our society today, people will fall for all kinds of scams. They trust in false hopes, like psychic hotlines, palm readings, astrology, fake healers, and quack cures. Inevitably, those false hopes disappoint. Nothing disappoints worse than false hope.

So where do I turn to find real hope? The Bible says to turn to God.

Romans 15:13 says, “May God, the source of hope, fill you with joy and peace through your faith in him. Then you will overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (GWT).

God is the only source of hope that’ll never disappoint. When we place our faith in Him, he provides joy, peace, and hope that overflows.

You need that kind of hope.

At the end of the book of Ezekiel, God says, “I am Jehovah Shammah.” In Hebrew, that means, “I am the God who is always there.” God is always there. He’s in your past, in your present, and in your future. He’s in the good places. He’s in the evil places.

He is everywhere. And you are never, ever alone.

And where God is, hope is.

Talk It Over

Within what experience from your past did you have the most difficulty seeing God’s presence?

How does realizing God’s presence give you hope amid despair?

Who in the midst of despair in your life can you encourage by reminding them of God’s presence?