Well, it comes, but hope almost never comes with ease. Ease just doesn’t normally foster hope. What is there to hope for when everything’s OK? That everything will be OKer? No, hope comes with adversity. It comes along with hardship and hard times. We all want to hope, but very few, if any, want what goes with it. And this is normal. No one enjoys pain, no one goes looking for problems. OK, some do but that’s because of pre-existing issues. So, be aware, if you desire to have hope you need to be willing to accept the thing God sends that carries the necessity of hope to you. And no, that doesn’t mean you have to like it. But you do need to accept it. Two different things. You don’t need to like bad weather, but it’ll sure make you hope, definitely wish and perhaps pray, for better weather. And as we can’t change the weather we must accept it even when we think it unacceptable.
Hope is the state which promotes the belief in a good outcome related to events and circumstances in one’s life. Despair is often regarded as the opposite of hope. (From Wikipedia.)
Despair. Now there’s a hopeless situation. In despair a person believes, has accepted the lie, that not only are they beyond all human help but beyond Divine help as well. Despair shortens the hand of an All-Powerful God. Despair is sin, and can take one to that unforgivable sin.The unpardonable sin is the one not repented of. God can’t forgive what we won’t confess. Why would someone caught up in despair believe God could or would forgive them anything if they’re beyond help, beyond His reach?
The point? Don’t indulge in despair, it leads you nowhere but beyond God’s reach, not because His reach is limited but because we refuse His hand. How? Well, one way to refuse God’s hand is to refuse to hope. The best way to refuse hope and to accept despair is to get caught up in the problem without realizing that the problem is a gift bringing to us yet another gift. And that gift is hope.
Romans 5:5
And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.
I wanted to say this, to share it, because I know from personal experience how beautiful hope can be. And if all I ever accomplish is to help someone see that hardship can be a gift and the portal to Hope in Christ I’ll die happy. 🙂