Hope Floats

"Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping - believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, 'That's how many descendants you will have!' And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead - and so was Sarah's womb." Romans 4:18-19

"I need to get my hope on - it's not easy this morning." This was the final sentence in a message I received early yesterday. The content of all she shared was hard. Situations, circumstances, relationships, work, finances, doubt, all seemed to be creating the perfect storm. Drowning in a sea of discouragement she reached out requesting prayer. 

There are times we all need a fresh infusion of hope. When everything appears overwhelming, and in His silence, God appears to have abandoned us. But you see, there's something special about hope. It has a buoyancy that keeps it from being submerged too long. Hope really does float!

Do you remember as a child playing in a backyard pool? One of the things I would try to do is immerse a foam noodle under water and try to stand on it. Competitions would arise to see who could keep it down for the longest time. It wasn't easy. There were many laughs as these coloured objects would flip us off and rise to the surface. They are made to float! And understand this...so is hope! 

When the water displaced by the noodle weighs more, its force is greater than the object and it's pretty much impossible for it to remain under the surface. There's an upward force exerted by the water that opposes the weight of the deluged item. This is true about hope too! There is an upward pull by Someone greater that stands against the objects weighing us down so that our hope becomes unsinkable.

Abraham is such a wonderful example of hope. He had no humanly possible reason to keep hoping, yet he did. Belief in God's word is what gives our hope it's buoyancy. There are four words from the verses above that we all need to hold on to in desperate days: "For God has said". Placing our trust in the infallible word of God keeps hope afloat. Abraham knew that without the Lord, the situation was completely hopeless, but continued faith in God strengthened his resolve to remain watchful for the promise to be fulfilled, regardless of how things appeared.

As the writer of Proverbs tells us, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." When anything attempts to put our hope on hold, we must recall the word of God and all He has spoken to us. We need to keep trusting in God's promises, believing that what He has written will come to pass just as He said. Hope is a desire that is accompanied by an expectation and the reason it can float through the difficulties of life is because it has an Anchor.

Hebrews 6:18-20 says that we can know a hope that is an anchor for our soul; a hope that is both steadfast and sure. Psalm 62:5-7 speaks of a rock-like hope that cannot be shaken. When the storms of life want to cast us out into open, reckless, turbulent seas, we can know a secure hope. Who is our Anchor? 1 Timothy 1:1 tells us that Jesus Christ is our hope.

I don't know about you right now, but my corner of the world is currently surrounded with a lot of hopeless looking people and situations. There are hopeless appearing marriages...hopeless situations with children...hopeless health diagnosis...hopeless financial crisis...hopeless job and employment conditions, and just in general, hopeless hearts. I want you to know right now that with God there is no such thing as anything being beyond hope. Whatever circumstance you have faced, are facing, or will face, there is hope! There is hope to breathe life into every message of seemingly hopelessness because of the Messenger of hope. Our hope can live on and float today because Jesus, our hope, is alive!