It’s Not Hopeless

Sunday, August 25, 2019

by Dr. Paul Chappell

“Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”

Romans 4:18–21

Abraham waited for some twenty-five years for the arrival of his promised son who would fulfill God’s promise to raise up a great nation. In that time, he had no human reason to expect a son would ever come. In fact, it was physically impossible for Sarah to bear a child. Yet in that long season when there seemed to be no reason for hope, Abraham still believed. And he continued in faith until the promised child, Isaac, was finally born. Marshal Ferdinand Foch, who commanded the French army during much of World War I said, “There are no hopeless situations: there are only men who have grown hopeless about them.”

The reason we can have hope in what may seem to others to be hopeless situations is that our hope is not based on our ability, resources, knowledge, or strength. Our hope is in the Lord who faithfully keeps every promise He has made to His children. “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 42:11). Any other resource we could have can be exhausted or fail, but God never does. He is not only the source of the promises we have received, but the guarantee that they will be fulfilled.

Today's Growth Principle: 

When God is our hope, there is never a reason for despair.