Hope

Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Romans 5:1-5

Today we had a really good discussion on hope. I was trying to find the above verses after we closed in prayer. I just remembered "hope does not disappoint" (from my NIV days I think!). But wow, how fitting these verses are as we consider how to evaluate advice in the midst of tribulations, often worldly advice, compare it to God's word.

We were talking about how the world oversimplifies problems a lot of times, so you get these kind of answers to problems:

"Just avoid talking to them."

"Get a divorce."

"You can take something for that."

The world often sees trials and tribulations as very one-dimensional, but in God's word, we so ALL OVER the place how God uses them to do big things, multi-faced things! Our ideas, our wisdom, it's practically like trying to build a cell phone from Legos. So simple.

Anyway, often also lacking in worldly advice and wisdom is the ingredient of HOPE. Not just "hope so" hope, but hope of the resurrection power of Christ working in our lives, and remembing God's ability to work in tribulations.

If we as believers fail to walk in hope as we face our trials and perplexing situations, it is going to be pretty impossible to know where to turn. We will be left with Legos.

But if we have hope, we will not be disappointed, if our hope is in the right thing.

A sister shared an awesome testimony on Romans 8:28 which I HOPE you will check out. She speaks of God's using all things, even if they don't seem right to us. This principle is really at work all over the place in the scripture.... almost like God is trying to tell us something. We have to see things with spiritual discernment, with faith in God, who works ALL THINGS for good to those who love him!

There were some other neat scriptures, which I'll look up later and share. I HOPE you are walking in HOPE in whatever you are going through. For me, it is often a challenge, but if I eliminate HOPE, my options are pretty chunky and plastic and multicolored. If you know what I mean.