Real Hope: Confident HopeUzorak

Great Is Your Faithfulness

I’m writing this at the end of a really difficult week. Nothing earth-shattering or life-altering, but not trivial difficulties either. I’ve had some big disappointments on top of a week stuck inside with the whole family sick. Our poor three-year-old has watched an unholy amount of television. Nevertheless, with the task of this devotion on my mind, I’ve been thinking a lot about hope.

As a Christian, I have hope because Jesus promised us that a new, better reality is 'at hand’ – that God is in the process of making all things new in His kingdom. Yet because of this, I can sometimes fall into the trap of thinking hope means pushing aside my fears, doubts, and disappointments. Pushing them ‘under the rug’, so to speak.

The verse in Lamentations says we can have hope firstly because we’re not consumed. It doesn’t say we don’t experience adversity, it’s just that the love of God means it doesn’t master us. It goes on to remind us that His compassions never fail – they are new every morning. This is the bit that hits home for me. Every day, God’s compassion gives us a new opportunity to look up and trust in His faithfulness.

So for me, hope in my difficult week has not meant minimizing my hardship. Hope has meant acknowledging the heartbreak, embracing its accompanying emotions, and then stepping into the next day confident that God is really good at turning brokenness into beauty.

Written by CHRIS GRESHAM-BRITT