Hope

As I have driven to work the past few days I've heard Chuck Swindoll give a series of sermons on hope. The more I have listened the the more I began to realize the importance of hope and how it really impacts our lives.  When I started thinking about the concept of hope I began to reflect and observe, throughout my day, on it.  Looking at recent events in my life and things that seem like obstacles, I can easily see how the hope that we have really shapes the life that we live.

I think different areas of my life right now where it would be easy to lose hope or areas where it seems there is no hope.  Some of these areas it is easier to trust God and know that there is hope, while others you almost have to just sit back and wait as there seems very little chance that things will ever change. I can only imagine what life is like for those who don't believe they have a hope in God and that God will guide them down the path to where He wants them to go.  The lack of hope can be devastating.

I've had several different situations recently where God has shown His face and provided a light for me to see the hope that I have in Him. On the other side, I have also had a few situations where the hope I had seems to be all but lost.  I am not saying that I have lost my hope in God by any means, rather I wonder if sometimes we mistakenly put our hope in people and things rather than God.  We hope that having something will change our lives; we hope that people will change; we hope that money will make our lives easier.  I know God can do each of these things, but maybe our focus is in the wrong place to begin with.

I don't really know if this makes sense or not, but it is worth taking the time to examine our lives to find where we are placing hope and if maybe we have falsely placed hope in the wrong places rather than just realizing our hope is in God.