What Gives You Hope?

What would you write in Lamentations 3:22?

The author of Lamentations wrote about a lot of grief and pain. Everything was against him, seemingly even God. Despite the odds, though, he still had hope. The source of that hope is recorded in Lamentations 3:22.

What gives you hope in desperate times? When everything is crumbling around you, what do you hold to, look to, in order to keep going?

Would your next verse be the same as what we read in Lamentations? Take a minute and write down what you look to when you need hope in the face of hopelessness. If you know these passages by heart, fine. But if you were writing them, would your response be the same as the author's?

Here's what he said.

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

That's Lamentations 3:22, but the author doesn't stop there. In verse 23 he goes on to say, They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Because of God's love we are not consumed. His compassions never fail, but are new every morning. Great is God's faithfulness.

Beautiful in its simplicity.

Did you write something similar?

When life goes sour, what do you call to mind to give you hope? Your family? Your job? Your possessions? Yourself? Was your answer something other than God's love and faithfulness?

If so, I ask only one question: Can you depend on your answer to save you from the fires of this life or the next? Will your answer be there no matter what, without fail? Is your answer an everyday, faithful provider of security?

No. Not if you answered something other than God.

God, and God alone, gives us hope.

Do not forget what hope is--confident expectation. The only thing we can truly be confident about for eternity is God. Everything else will fail, fade, and pass away. Only hope in God is permanent, eternal, fail-safe.

I don't want temporary hope. I don't want hope that depends on chance. I want assurance. I want security. I want a sure thing.

Nothing in this world can give me that.

Yet this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

That gives me hope!