If We Had No Hope

We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 1 Chronicles 29:15 

In the Greek myth of Pandora's Box the first woman on earth was given a beautiful box, but told that she was never to open it. Yet she could not resist, and went ahead and opened the beautiful box. When it was opened, according to the myth, all the evil that we now suffer in the world came out of it. Too late, Pandora tried to close the lid of the box, but the evil had already escaped, yet she found one thing left inside—hope.

Even the pagan Greeks realized we needed hope to offset the terrible evils in the world. Without hope how could we ever endure the suffering and affliction that plagues humanity? Yet, thanks to God we have hope through the risen Savior Jesus.

If we were stuck forever in the worst times of our suffering, that would be a kind of hell on earth. To never have the hope of being free of pain, free of misery, to find no relief for our suffering—that is unthinkable.

What peace, what mercy, what relief to know, we have hope that there are better days ahead. How wonderful it is that there is a rainbow of hope after our storms of life.

Hope is the anchor of our soul. It inspires us to move forward when we can hardly move at all. It gives us strength when all strength is gone. And it motivates us to take chances even when we have rolled the dice in the past and come up empty.

Whatever trials and troubles you are facing, whatever evils have been let loose upon your life, trust in God, plant your hope firmly in Him. When you do, you will find the strength and forward momentum that derives from hope invested in God.

Prayer: Dear Lord, we thank You for hope, and the strength we find by hoping in You. Amen.