Never Give Up Hope

June 29, 2021

Never Give Up Hope

Psalm 71:5  “For you have been my hope, O Sovereign LORD, my confidence since my youth.”

This is something I hope many of us can say.  If I had one wish for all of you listening it would be that you got to know Jesus when you were young and that He has been your hope and your confidence since your youth.  When I was younger it was great to have my hope and confidence in Jesus.  It was great to know, especially when I was a teenager, that I was not alone, that Jesus was there and that He was in control.  I was happy for the rules of the catholic church as it was something I could rely on.  It also helped me make hard decisions as I did not want to fracture my relationship with the Lord.  

That is not to say that I always made the right decisions.  I made a lot of wrong decisions.  Sometimes I knew what was right in the eyes of the Lord and yet chose to do the wrong thing.  That is pretty much par for the course.  None of us are perfect, no matter how much we would like to be.  I would love it if my mind and body would just get on the same page when it comes to following in the Lord’s foot steps.  But as St. Paul so famously says in Romans 7:19, “ For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.”  Even St. Paul struggled to do the will of God.  

Sometimes we tend to think that although we know we struggle, we assume others aren’t struggling as much.  We assume that because people seem closer to God than we do, it is easier for them to do the right thing.  This may be true in some cases, however, we all struggle with something.  I don’t think there is a single human being that finds it easy to follow along perfectly in God’s footsteps with no issues.  Somethings may come easy and other things may be difficult.  We are all different and the things we struggle with may be different but there is always a struggle.  

If you did not know Jesus or the Lord when you were younger, don’t worry.  It is never too late to get to know Him and to learn to rely on him as your savior and your confidence.  It is never too late to have hope in the Lord.  He is an awesome Lord who always keeps his promises and never lets us down.  How many others can you truly say that about?

One of the reasons it is so great to have our confidence in the Sovereign God is because it is comforting to know that we are not the only ones in control of our lives.  It is nice to know there is something bigger than ourselves.  Once you are able to really believe this, it takes a lot of the pressure off a lot of the decision making in your life.  When you can learn to stop and ask what God wants you to do in different circumstances then you be rest assured things will turn out all right.  

It is comforting for me to know that no one decision will be the end of all that is good in my life.  I try to make well though out decisions and use the wisdom God has given me.  I also try to pray before I make any big decisions.  However, in the end I know that even if I make the wrong decision, God can turn it around and make something wonderful come out of it.  He is that good.  Have you ever thought you were making the right decision and then it did not turn out so good?  Have you ever made what seemed the wrong decision and then had everything turn out ok in the end?  God has a plan for our lives and He is going to help us get there, even if we make a few, or a lot, of wrong choices on our way to get there.  

The verse not only talks about our confidence in God, but also our hope in Him.  I know people that struggle with the practicality of hope.  Its not an issue with the idea of hope.  I think many of us can say that we have hope for the future.  It is hope for a specific thing that I think some people struggle with.  If you have a desire deep within you and you have been waiting for a very long time to have this desire met, I can understand why you may struggle with hope.  I can see how it may actually hurt your heart to hope for something that you feel may never happen.  I wish I had something wise and comforting to say to you right now if this is you.  

All I can say is please don’t give up on your hopes and dreams.  I truly believe that God gives us those desires deep down inside of us.  Actually He has confirmed this with the words He has given at prayer group and in Philippians 2:13 it says, “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasures.”  God is working in you!  I know right now you are questioning if God really put those desires in you.  You are probably thinking that He does not want you to have them or He would have given them to you already.  I don’t know why some people have to wait a really long time and some people don’t.  God’s ways are higher than our ways.  He knows what we need and what we can handle.  

If you have a deep desire for something, I ask that you keep hoping for it!  Keep asking God to follow through on this desire.  Ask Him to give you the patience to keep waiting on His timing.  Ask Him for the strength to keep hoping when you feel like you can’t hope any more.  I think we sometimes want to give up hope because we can’t see a way that our desire could come true.  We can’t see any humanly way that our desire could happen.  We forget that God isn’t human.  He doesn’t need to find a humanly way for it to happen.  He can find extraordinary ways for it to happen.  He can find supernatural ways for it to happen.  He is the creator of the entire world.  He can surely handle helping us with whatever desire He put into our hearts.  

Dear heavenly father I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord we ask that you help us not give up our hope for our desires. Lord we thank you for placing these desires inside us and we ask that you give us the strength and perseverance to keep hoping.  Lord we know that your time is better than our time in your way is better than our way please give us the patience to wait for your timing. Lord we ask that you help us put our confidence in you.  Lord we ask that you help us do the things we want to do and not do the things we don't want to do. We love you so very much Lord and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus is holy name amen.