We use the word "hope" an awful lot in every day conversations.
We hope it will be warmer tomorrow. Or cooler if it's July.
We hope that we'll get over the flu.
We hope that we'll get that new job.
We hope that we can take a vacation this summer.
We hope that...
Hope is an anticipation that something is going to change for the better. And there's nothing wrong with having hope.
But I wonder if sometimes our hope in these things makes God out to be a vending machine. If I hope enough, He'll give me what I want.
If I hope enough, I'll be praying more. And therefore God will give me more. If I truly believe with all my heart that God wants me to ... - then He'll do it.
Well, when you put it that way, it does sound a bit ridiculous, doesn't it?
Even if you start applying the "hope-prayer principle" to bigger, more spiritual things, does it make it right?
I hope that my children will follow the Lord.
I hope that my marriage won't fall apart.
I hope that I'll have victory over temptation again.
The problem with hoping turning to wishing turning to praying turning to demanding is that we put ourselves in the place of God.
And if God doesn't carry through, we're not so sure we want to follow Him.
"He didn't give me what I wanted last time. Why should I trust Him again?"
In reality, if that's your attitude, you didn't trust Him the last time. You trusted yourself.
And you failed miserably.
The best guarantee is to hope for the things which God promises to us. And there are a lot of them.
Two big ones:
Eternal life (1 John 5:12-13)
Resurrection (1 Thessalonians 4:13)
If we put our hope in those things, the other things for which we hope, don't seem to matter quite as much.
