Hope in the Disappointment

Someone once wrote, "hope is a steadfast, unwavering conviction rooted in our faith and overflowing into our hearts and minds and all of life. Hope is not the absence of disappointment, it is the presence of the Holy Spirit".

The above quote has me thinking about hope in two important ways. First, hope is a deep rooted conviction in our faith. Hope is rooted deep in the faith of a Christian. Hope is a deep conviction that a Christian holds on to. True hope in God is an unwavering hold of the Christian onto the God who saved them. True hope in the Lord is part of faith, the same faith that God saved a Christian through.

The nature of hope, having deep roots in the faith of a Christian as multiple applications.

Hope does not waver with circumstance. This world is painful. Life is broken and hard. We as humans suffer. We are physically sick and dying. We are full of sin and failure. We breed and live in disappointment. Yet, true hope in the Lord has deep roots in the Lord. Hope in the Lord is a conviction in faith about God. Hope in the Lord is an overflow into the heart and mind, while effecting the life of a follower of Jesus. This means hope controls the life of the believer, including the emotions, feelings, and reactions of the believer.

Hope does not wilt under the fire of disappointment. Our lives are full of disappointment. In fact, the Bible is very clear, even having faith in God will not stop disappointment. If men and women like Abram, Sarah, Peter, Paul, Joseph, David, Mary, and Isaiah, can all experience disappointment, hope in the Lord does not stop disappointment. This points to the truth that hope, becasue it is rooted deep in faith, does not wilt or disappear when disappointment arrives.

And this brings me to the second point, the above quote has me thinking about. Hope in the Lord is not the absence of disappointment or heartache, it is simply the presence of faith in God and the holy Spirit.

We have all experienced disappointment in our lives. In fact, if you are like me, disappointment has arrived, in the past week. We can't change disappointment. We can't stop disappointment. It will arrive in our lives unannounced. It will come at the worst times. It will produce the worst of feelings. Yet disappointment keeps coming into our lives.

Hope in the Lord understands this reality, yet keeps hoping in the Lord because it is rooted deep in faith. Hope controls the emotions. Hope controls the reactions. Hope controls the minds thought process. Hope in the Lord, under the influence of faith and the Holy Spirit, moves beyond the disappointments in life and drinks deeply from the character of God. Hope outlasts the disappointment because true hope is in the Lord alone. 

Here is the reality of life; disappointment, failure, and pain will happen to every single one of us today. This reality we will never escape. But if we are a child of God, we have a great force in our hearts and minds; hope in the Lord. So when the disappointment comes, hold to the convictions of hope in the Lord. When the failure arrives, drive your roots deep into the hope of the Lord. When the pain begins, understand the truth of the opening quote; hope is not the absence of the pain but the presence of the Holy Spirit. Let us drive our roots of hope deep into our faith and convictions of who God is. Hope in the Lord.