HOPELESS TIMES 11 | SOVEREIGN HOPE
1. Hopeless Times
a) The times we live in are so troubled. People losing their jobs, the stock market falls, natural catastrophes, and uncertainty in what the future holds. In today’s economy there is little to hope for the future however God is never caught off guard or by surprise. God knows the future. You are not the only one that has felt that there is no hope. Even Bible heroes had their times when they wanted to give up. Job, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, even the powerful prophet in the Old Testament, Elijah.
b) Humans have definitions of hope that are different from God’s. We might hope our team wins the game, or we might hope we don’t lose our jobs or our house. But the biblical definition of hope is not a hope-so but a know-so. Our hope in God is surer than the sun rising in the morning.
Psalms 119:74
"Those who fear You will be glad when they see me,
Because I have hoped in Your word."
a) The times we live in are so troubled. People losing their jobs, the stock market falls, natural catastrophes, and uncertainty in what the future holds. In today’s economy there is little to hope for the future however God is never caught off guard or by surprise. God knows the future. You are not the only one that has felt that there is no hope. Even Bible heroes had their times when they wanted to give up. Job, Moses, Jonah, Jeremiah, even the powerful prophet in the Old Testament, Elijah.
b) Humans have definitions of hope that are different from God’s. We might hope our team wins the game, or we might hope we don’t lose our jobs or our house. But the biblical definition of hope is not a hope-so but a know-so. Our hope in God is surer than the sun rising in the morning.
Psalms 119:74
"Those who fear You will be glad when they see me,
Because I have hoped in Your word."
c) Here is real hope. When a person reads the Word of God (Bible) they can know for certain that they have a secure and certain future for God will never allow us to suffer beyond our own capabilities to handle it. There is nothing on this earth more certain than hope in God. He will never leave us nor will He ever forsake us. He is our anchor in the present and for the future.
2. Sovereign Hope
Psalms 39:7
But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.
a) When we look to ourselves, our employer, our retirement fund, or our inheritance, we can not fully hope with 100% certainty. But what do we look for when our Hope is in God? We know that even our employer’s decisions are in God’s sovereign hands.
b) Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.” The king thinks he might be in charge, or the boss might think he or she is making their own decision, but in God’s sovereignty, they do nothing that is not in God’s divine plan for us. They are subject to the Lord’s will whether they know it or not.
Psalms 39:7
But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.
a) When we look to ourselves, our employer, our retirement fund, or our inheritance, we can not fully hope with 100% certainty. But what do we look for when our Hope is in God? We know that even our employer’s decisions are in God’s sovereign hands.
b) Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD; He turns it wherever He wishes.” The king thinks he might be in charge, or the boss might think he or she is making their own decision, but in God’s sovereignty, they do nothing that is not in God’s divine plan for us. They are subject to the Lord’s will whether they know it or not.
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