Jesus is our Hope

By Tracy Foster

The Oxford Dictionary describes ‘hope’ as a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. In a world filled with uncertainty, suffering, wars, rumours of wars, social unrest, economic upheaval and crime, hope can feel like a distant dream.

But in the life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, hope is real. Jesus does not merely offer hope. He is our hope. He is our hope during trials. He provides hope for the broken-hearted and He gives us hope for a brighter tomorrow.

If it is one thing that we will experience in this world it is trials. Life is like an obstacle race, as soon as you get over one hurdle there, right in front of you, is another, and another, and another until we reach the end and hopefully, we will hear, “Well done my good and faithful servant.”

But until then, we take the trials in stride as we go through day after day.

In Matthew 6:25–34, Jesus said: “Do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?”

God has already thought about what you will eat, drink and wear. Before we thought about those questions, He already provided solutions to them. All we need to do, is to be open to God.

To believe in Him, to put forward our prayers and our petitions and expect that those prayers and petitions will be answered. We can hope in the Lord.

Everywhere we look, there are problems. There are hardships. People are restless and broken-hearted. In our nation, very recently, over 20,000 people lost their jobs, then another 10,000 lost theirs the following week. There are so many people who are going to bed hungry. There are so many people who are feeling lost.

One man committed suicide because he could not deal with the loss of his job and his inability to provide for his family as he used to. We see people with smiles on their faces but sometimes, it is just a mask to hide their depression, hurt, rejection and or abandonment that they feel inside.

How can we help them through these crises? How can we reach them? For us humans, it might be difficult, but for Jesus, it is simple. Jesus is accustomed to reaching out to the outcasts, healing the sick, forgiving sinners and welcoming the lost.

When everyone was ready to stone to death the woman who committed adultery, Jesus spoke up for her and no one condemned her after.

When He met that woman at the well and asked her for a drink of water, she was the type of woman that He was not supposed to talk to, but He did anyway. Over 2000 years ago, God was helping people heal from trauma and He is the same God yesterday and today, so He stands ready to help us today as He did back then.

Amid our trials, Jesus gives us hope for a brighter tomorrow. In Jeremiah 29:11, God said: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

God has a plan for every one of us. All we must do is trust Him and believe that He will do what He said that He will do.

I know that in this world, it is difficult to trust people but God is not man and so we must place our trust in Him.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus wants to see us through every trial; He wants to heal our brokenness. He has plans for us to have bright futures. All He is asking us to do is reach out.

The same hope is available for us today. There is no mistake that is too great, no heart too broken and no problem too big that Jesus cannot solve. Our God is a caring God. He has told us that when our father and mother forsake us, He will never forsake us (Psalm 27:10).

So, brothers and sisters, come walk with us on Sunday, September 21, in recognition of this hope and help us to share this message about hope in our land!