What is your hope in? No, I’m not asking what you’re wishing for or wanting. I’m talking about hope: trust, confidence, security. Where do you turn when things start looking rough? How do you try to keep life from being too hard? Maybe your hope is in money, having enough to get through whatever financial strain might threaten. Maybe your hope is in family and friends, a ‘safety net’ to fall back on when you hit a hard place emotionally and need support. Maybe it’s in the power of positive thinking or so-and-so’s self-help programs. Maybe your hope is based in religion: being nice, saying prayers, reading the Bible, trying to be good so that good comes your way. Or perhaps you’ve placed your hope in isolation, handling things yourself and not letting others in so that (maybe) they won’t be hurt, worried, or concerned. From a human viewpoint, some of these are great things while others are toxic and harmful. But take a moment with me and look at what God says about our hope and trust.
“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited” (Jeremiah 17:5-6). Just so we are on the same page, let me share the definition of ‘cursed.’ According to Webster’s Dictionary, ‘cursed’ means “afflicted, vexed, tormented.” So then why or how would one be afflicted, vexed, or tormented if they trust in other people, or in human means, rather than God? Let’s think through the examples I brought up at the beginning. If money and financial success is our hope, what happens when we unexpectedly lose our job, someone hacks into our account and steals our life savings, or we come upon a hardship (such as the death of a loved one) where money can’t help? Our hope has failed, and we are left afflicted, vexed, tormented, helpless. Or if our hope is in our “family-and-friends safety net,” what happens when we are struggling and everyone is busy and can’t talk, can’t be there to support? What happens if they just don’t understand, or if all their efforts to try and help you end up hurting more than helping? We are left alone, misunderstood, afflicted, vexed, and tormented. If our hope is in self-help and positive thinking, what are we going to do when we fail time and again, or when those positive thoughts we’ve been trying to believe prove to be lies? What happens when the positive things we’ve been looking forward to don’t happen? The hole that we’re trying to climb out of gets deeper, and our efforts seem even less adequate, and we are left disappointed, frustrated, afflicted, vexed, and tormented. If our hope is in religion and being good to get good, what happens when bad things come anyway? What happens when we’ve been as good as we can, and done to the best of our ability the things that we think are required, and it doesn’t seem to do anything for our situation? We are left desperate, disillusioned, afflicted, vexed, and tormented. If our hope is in isolation and pretending we’re okay to get through, what happens when the people we are trying to keep out of the hurt, worry, and concern end up being hurt, worried, and concerned anyway? What happens when ignoring the trouble and pretending everything’s okay doesn’t make it go way? We are left deeply hurt, alone, afflicted, vexed, and tormented. In departing from the Lord and trying to find our own way to security and confidence, we have become cursed. We don’t see any good come, and are alone, parched, and desperate for some drop of goodness.
But the best news is coming. God doesn’t just leave it at “Cursed are all the people who put their trust and hope in anything other than me.” He continues, “Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit” (Jeremiah 17:7-8). Noah Webster defined ‘blessed’ as, “made happy or prosperous.” Take a moment and note that the passage in Jeremiah makes particular mention of heat and drought. Neither of these conditions are excellent or desirable for plants. God is not saying that those who put their trust in Him and make Him their hope will have lives of perfect ease, immense wealth, and all that their hearts desire. No, trials and difficult times will still come, but in these hard times, those who trust in God will continue to experience happiness, and their souls, their relationship with God, will prosper. Why? Because when money isn’t enough, their hope is still in God who will supply all our need according to His riches. Because when friends and family aren’t there to talk to or are unable to understand, their hope is still in the Lord, to whom they can pour out their hearts and find refuge. Because when the positive things they’ve been looking forward to fall through, their hope is still in God, who never changes and never fails. Because when trials come even though they are walking with God, their hope is still in the Lord, and they know that nothing can separate them from His love. Because when it seems that they are isolated and alone, their trust is still in God, who will never leave or forsake, who is everywhere, and nothing is hidden from His eyes. And so in the heat and the drought, they are not afraid, vexed, or tormented. Not that there isn’t pain, sorrow, or pressure. But because God is their hope, they cast their burden on Him, and take the joy and peace He offers as they find shelter and refuge in His love and care.
Friends, it is so easy to trust in other people, to trust in our strength, our ability, or to try to ignore a situation, hoping it will fix itself. Sometimes we need the strong winds to blow, the earthquakes to come, and show us how unsuitable the little straw houses without foundations that we have put our trust in truly are. Come, find rest in the true God, the One who hears prayer, the one who is a refuge whereunto we may continually resort. Make God your hope, and let Him bless you, fill you with His abundant joy, and make your relationship with Him to prosper and grow.
Hope in truth 