This morning, we continue looking at the topic of "hope". Over the past two weeks, we’ve seen that a Christian hope isn’t just a wish or a desire, but a settled confidence in God and in His promises. Christian hope is a continuing reliance upon God’s wisdom, and love, and power. What distinguishes our hope from those without faith is that instead of just hoping for something, our hope is in someone. Someone who loves and cares for us. Someone whose wisdom and understanding is far beyond ours. Someone who has the power to accomplish whatever He pleases, both in our lives and in the world. Our hope is in God. As the Psalmist writes:
"No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame. . . Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. . . May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope is in you." -- Psalm 25:3, 5, 21
So whether or not we obtain the things we desire, we trust that God will always do for us what is right, and good, and best. And even when this life is over, our hope doesn’t end. Because we know and are convinced that God’s promises will all be fulfilled -- promises of resurrection, and forgiveness of sins, and eternal life in Jesus Christ. That’s our ultimate hope.
But there’s a problem. In this world, our hope is constantly under attack. So it has to be nourished and strengthened. Hope isn’t automatic by any means; it doesn’t just happen. On the contrary, it’s something we have to make an effort to maintain. Otherwise, over time it will atrophy, it will diminish to the point that it can’t support us; it will fail us when the trials come. And so to keep that from happening, what I’m going to do now is give you some tools that you can use to keep your hope strong. The question we’re going to answer is this: How do we keep hope alive? How do we keep hope from slipping away?
Let’s begin with this question: what is the major enemy of hope in our lives? What is the one thing that, more than any other, threatens to weaken our hope? You could suggest all kinds of things -- discouragement, suffering; even plain old weariness, just mental, and physical and spiritual exhaustion. But the most potent adversary of hope is simply the passage of time. The waiting that constantly chips away at our hope, day by day, month by month, year by year. As Proverbs 13:12 so eloquently puts it, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick". And that’s true, isn’t it?
For example, a wife hoping for her husband to come to faith. Putting up with his cutting remarks about how foolish her religion is, enduring his tirades about "hypocrites" and "holier than thou" church people. Doing her best to be a good Christian example, even though she knows she falls short. Wondering if God is ever going to answer her prayers for his salvation. And going through all of this day after day, month after month, year after year, with no sign of change, feeling her hope slowly vanishing.
Or a single man hoping for a wife. Dealing with the loneliness; battling the fear that perhaps the right one never will come along. Watching the "field" of potential candidates getting smaller and smaller as the months and years pass.
Or a married couple, hoping for a child, but unable to conceive. Months and years of doctors, and tests, and medications, and charts, and schedules, and still no baby.
Or a set of grieving parents, watching the self-destructive choices their teenage son is making, waiting for him to finally wake up, to see what’s happening and change his life, get some new friends, stop doing drugs, get serious about school. But as time goes on, and none of those things are happening, their hopes for their son to have a happy and fulfilling life are fading away.
You could add dozens of other examples. Waiting for a promotion at work that never seems to come. Waiting for a chronic illness to clear up. Waiting for your father to tell you, just once, that he’s proud of you. Waiting, waiting, waiting. How do we keep our hopes from eroding over time, under the constant drip, drip, drip of doubts and disappointments?
First of all, we have to understand that with God, a delay in response is no indication that He won’t answer. When God’s response to our prayers is delayed, even for months or years, it doesn’t mean that He won’t eventually grant our request. I know that’s a double negative, so let me put it another way, because it’s important. The passage of time, in and of itself, tells us nothing about how God is going to respond to our prayers. Now, that’s a difficult concept for us to grasp, because it’s not the way other people operate. If you ask another person to do something, and nothing happens, and nothing happens, and nothing happens, then after a while it probably means nothing is going to happen. They’re not going to do it. And the more time that passes, the more unlikely it is that they are going to grant your request. Why? Because people forget. They get distracted. They change their minds and don’t bother to tell you. They put it off and hope you’ll forget about it.
So, for instance, let’s say that Charlene were to leave me a note reading, "Alan, please remember to clean the gutters." Or something to that effect. To be honest, it would probably be more like, "Alan, don’t forget to clean the gutters like you "forgot" last year. And please do it before Christmas." Now, if a week were to pass, and the gutters had not been cleaned, Charlene might assume that I was just busy. After two or three weeks, she might wonder if the chore had slipped my mind. But once Valentine’s Day had come and gone, she could be almost certain that the gutters were not going to be cleaned.
Or take another example. I’m working in my office at home, and I ask my son David to go into the kitchen and fetch me a Coke. Now, David is a very compliant child, eager to please, and off he goes. But David is also rather easily distracted. So minutes pass. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Fifteen. After a quarter of an hour has elapsed, and still no liquid caffeine, it’s a pretty fair bet that David will not be returning. David has seen a butterfly and is chasing it all over the yard. Or David has heard some music and is dancing a jig. Or David has seen something interesting on television, and the Coca-Cola for his poor, parched father has long since slipped his mind.
But God is not like that. God doesn’t experience time the way we do. He doesn’t forget, or get busy, or lose track of what he was planning to do. For Him, something that happened centuries ago is still as fresh and as current as something happening at this very moment. Listen to this:
"For a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night." -- Psalm 90:4
"But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise,
as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." -- 2 Peter 3:8-9
In other words, the passage of months and years may seem agonizingly slow to us, an interminable delay. Every hour that goes by chips away at our hope. We think, "Is God ever going to act? Why hasn’t he answered our prayers? Does He even hear our prayers?" But for God, minutes, months, weeks and years -- even centuries -- they’re all the same. There is no "fast" or "slow" with God. There is only the right time, and the wrong time. When the time is right, He will act, whether that’s tomorrow or ten years from now. He’s not being slow. He’s not dawdling. He’s not delaying. He’s not dragging his feet. He’s simply waiting for the right time, whether or not that corresponds to our idea of the right time. There’s a great old hymn, "Immortal, Invisible," which goes like this:
Immortal, invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, Thy great Name we praise.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, Thou rulest in might;
Thy justice, like mountains, high soaring above
Thy clouds, which are fountains of goodness and love.
"Unresting, unhasting." God doesn’t rest, nor does he make haste. He never hurries. He never gets behind and has to rush to catch up. He simply does everything; everywhere and always, at precisely the right time, according to His sovereign plan and purpose. And that includes answering our prayers. So when we perceive a delay, and we interpret that to mean God is not going to answer, we are completely mistaken. Whether we’ve been waiting for several days or several decades, it makes no difference. Either way, it’s no indication that God will not grant our request. What matters to God is not the length of time, but the right time. And that’s good to know when we’re waiting.
"But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." -- Galatians 4:4-5
"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly." -- Romans 5:6
"Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." -- Galatians 6:9
There was a "right time" for Christ to be born, to die, and return. The Roman authorities didn’t determine the time of his death; Jesus did.
As the Preacher of Ecclesiastes tells us,
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace."
-- Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
So with respect to our examples; there is a time to be single, and a time to be married; a time to be childless and a time to bear children; a time for children to rebel and a time for them to return; a time for people to turn away from God and a time for them to turn toward Him. The problem, and the reason our hope is so fragile, is that we think we know what those times are. We think we know when the time to be single has passed, and when the time to be married has come. And if the time to be married has come and gone (as we perceive it), and we’re still not married, then we lose hope. Or we think we know when the right time has come for someone we love to trust in Christ. But only God knows that. Only God knows the right time for any person to be married, or to have children, or to repent. So if God doesn’t answer our prayers right away, it doesn’t mean His answer is "no". It may just mean that the time isn’t right. So keep praying, and keep hoping, and keep expecting God to act.
Now, God knew we would be prone to get discouraged and give up. He knew that the passage of time would eat away at our hope. And so, in order to help us persevere, he gave us verses like these:
"And [Jesus] said to them, "Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, "Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’; and he will answer from within and say, "Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’? I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will be given what you ask for. Keep on looking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened." -- Luke 11:5-9 NKJV / NLT
So don’t give up. Don’t stop hoping. Don’t stop praying. If even a lazy, sleepy neighbor will eventually get up and give you what you ask for, don’t you think God will do the same thing? He loves you more than you can imagine.
Second, we have to realize that sometimes God uses waiting to test the genuineness of our hope. Is our hope really in Him, or are we just trying to use Him to get what we want? Are we trusting in God to do what is right, or are we trying to dictate to God what He must do for us? Time exposes whether our hope is false or true. Real hope waits; it perseveres. It doesn’t give up. It remains faithful; it continues to believe and obey, and it looks to God alone for what it seeks, no matter how long it takes. But false hope soon folds up its tents and moves on. Which kind of hope do you have?
Third, we need to remember that, whatever the reason for the delay, it isn’t due to any inability on God’s part to answer. Throughout the Scriptures, we see over and over again that there is nothing God cannot do.
"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you." -- Jeremiah 32:17
"I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted."
-- Job 42:2
"Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." -- Matthew 19:26
Finally, some of you here today are struggling to hold onto your hope. Some of you have made that known to others, and some of you have kept it to yourself, so that no one knows but you and God. But every day that goes by makes it harder and harder to keep your grip. Every week without an answer to your prayers makes it more tempting to give up and give in. I beg of you: Don’t do it. Don’t give up. God is faithful. Trust in Him. Keep hoping; keep praying. At the right time, He will answer. And remember His promise, that "Those who hope in me will not be disappointed" (Isaiah 49:23). Trust in Him, and you will not be disappointed.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
