Hope Remembers Series

Every problem has a purpose. Even the little tiny ones, the inconsequential ones, the things that seem like mere irritations. They have a purpose. God can teach you character. He wants to change you, mature you.

I want you to Listen to these old words from a book whose very title sounds relevant for our times. The book is Lamentations we will be reading the 3:18 – 20

"Gone is my glory, all that I had hoped for in the Lord. I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me."

It sure sounds like Jeremiah is going through a valley, But where is his hope? If the book of Lamentations ended at 3:20, all we could say is that at least someone, somewhere knew what it was like to live in a world unhinged. But the raw honesty of verses 18 - 20 is followed by these words of hope in verses 21 - 26

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ’The Lord is my portion; therefore I will hope in him.’ The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord."

How can someone who so eloquently describes his struggle, pen words so equally full of confidence? The difference between unrecoverable despair and un-intimidated confidence in the future is hope. Before we talk about how he manages to find hope in his desperate situation, Let be absolutely sure that we know what hope is. And what it isn’t.

First Hope, the kind the Bible talks about, is not optimism.

Don’t get me wrong. I love optimists. They tend to live longer than pessimists, accomplish more and are just a lot more fun to be around. A pessimist can hardly wait for the future so he can look back with regret. Optimists can hardly wait for the future because they just know it’s going to be better than today.

A student was seen pedaling a bicycle around his college campus. He was wearing a tee-shirt that read, "Studying to be a doctor." On the back of his bicycle was a tag that read, "Studying to be a Mercedes."

Optimists handle failure and frustration better than pessimists.

For all their similarities, though, hope and optimism are entirely different animals. Optimists think they can. Or that others will. Those with hope, know God will.

Optimists survey the circumstances and find the positive. They see the glass half full. They see a flat tire and say, "Yeah, but it’s only flat on the bottom."

Hope, on the other hand, doesn’t take its cue from circumstances. In fact, there is this odd calculus involved with hope. The greater the pain, the more desperate the circumstance, the stronger, more confident hope becomes. Paul talks about that in Romans 5:3 - 5.

"Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."