Hope does not disappoint us

Life can be filled with disappointments—hopes and dreams dashed or seemingly delayed interminably.  Will these hopes ever come to pass?   Relationships may not turn out the way we had hoped.  Loved ones have not yet  come to the Lord or returned to Him.  Prayers await fulfilment.

When I was in grade eight, we had to do a project in our Speech and Drama class in which we chose one word and then illustrated it with pictures from magazines arranged on a sheet of bristol board.  I chose the word HOPE.  I can’t remember what pictures I chose.  I just remember the word HOPE in large letters at the top.  Out of all the words I could have chosen why this one?   Besides the normal struggles of early adolescence, I had lost both grandmothers in the year past—one of whom had been a second mother to me as she had lived with us for much of my life.  I didn’t realize at the time how alone I felt.  But somehow by the grace of God I must have been holding onto hope.  At that time I knew of the Lord but I did not yet know the Lord.  Looking back on those years, I know that He sustained me through the prayers of faithful family members—especially an aunt who was very prayerful.

Later in my life, after coming to believe in my heart in Jesus, I realized that the Lord is the source of true hope that will not disappoint.  But even as a believer, I have struggled with periods and situations where disappointments added up so much that it was hard to resist the temptation to give up hope.  At some point during my almost seven years in Montreal I realized that there was a spirit of disappointment trying to crush the hopes of many in our church.  People had disappointed one another and this was aggravated by the personal disappointments already plaguing people because of each one’s unique history of loss. The enemy of our souls seemed to have placed a cloud of disappointment and heaviness over the whole city and especially the churches.

This was especially true for those who were the most faithful and prayerful.  This made it clear that it was a form of spiritual oppression and opposition.  We were in a spiritual battle and sustaining true hope in the Lord was our front line defense.

What sustained me and all those who hope in the Lord during this and similar times?  The love of God poured regularly into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  I can’t remember a single Sunday during those almost seven years when I did not feel the Presence of Jesus in our service of worship and when I did not feel strengthened and renewed by the Holy Spirit to continue in hope.  Worshipping the Lord as we yielded to the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, receiving fresh nourishment from the Word of God and being saturated with the love of God the Father and the Lord Jesus through the Holy Spirit replenished us each week and helped us not to give up.

Hear the Lord speaking through these words of Holy Scripture:  “And HOPE does not disappoint us because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given to us (Romans 5:5 NIV).”  Read the words aloud again slowly and deliberately and let them penetrate deep into your heart and, as you do, let the Holy Spirit fill you up with His love which will never disappoint. (See Romans 5:1-5 NIV for the full context.)

In this Epiphany season of God’s love, may His Hope sustain us as we receive fresh fillings of His Love through the Holy Spirit whom we have in us through our faith in Jesus.

The following song and visual images may help you to receive more of God’s love as the Holy Spirit fills you and lifts the pain of loss and disappointment and enables you to continue in prayerful hope.

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