Choosing Hope

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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. — Hebrews 11:1

What is it that you hope for? Perhaps it is the safety of your spouse, or for an easy transition after deployment, or for a certain assignment. Or could it be that you have been walking in difficulty for so long that you are finding it difficult to hope at all? If you find your faith giving way to doubt, you are not alone.

The theme of hope runs throughout both the Old and New Testaments. Hebrews 11 honors heroes of the faith for righteousness even when they could not see the end result. Verse 11 says, “By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised.” If you remember the story as it is told in Genesis, you will recall that Sarah had such a hard time allowing herself to hope that God would keep his promise of giving her a son that she gave her handmaiden Hagar to Abraham to have a son through her. She took the matter into her own hands before the Lord’s plan came to fruition. And yet, after years of waiting, God still kept his promise and allowed her to give birth to Isaac, who would be the father of countless generations.

In our darkest hours, what we believe about God is the only thing that can sustain us. Our hope should be placed in God’s character, not in our outward circumstances. When we have no answers to the “Why” questions, it is our answer to “Who”—our knowledge of God and assurance that He is good and sovereign—that keeps us going.

“In all of my trials, it has become quite clear that I have a choice,” says Army Chaplain wife Rebekah Benimoff whose husband struggles with PTSD. “I could take all my pain and grief and unanswered questions and truthfully, honestly submit them to El-Shaddai, ‘The God Who is Sufficient for His People,’ or I could choose to turn away from Him and become resentful. I could choose Hope—or I could choose to walk away from hope. How could I choose hopelessness, when there is such HOPE to be found? I find myself crying out to Him, saying, ‘God, I cannot do this on my own.’ I choose hope despite what I cannot understand. I choose to believe that God is who He says He is, despite what my circumstances are.”

Pray: Lord, You know my hopes and fears better than I know them myself. Please show me how to rest in the knowledge of Your sovereignty while I wait for my hopes to be fulfilled. Gently guide me to a place where I can rejoice in Your glory no matter what happens in my own circumstances. In Jesus’ Name, Amen,

Questions to Share:

1. What am I placing my hope in today? How can we, as a couple, encourage each other in hope?

2. As I wait, what am I learning about who God is? Share with your spouse.

Jocelyn Green is an award-winning freelance writer and author of Faith Deployed: Daily Encouragement for Military Wives (www.faithdeployed.com), from which this devotional was reposted with permission from Moody Publishers. She is also the co-author of Battlefields & Blessings: Stories of Faith and Courage from the War in Iraq & Afghanistan. She and her husband Rob live with their two children in Cedar Falls, Iowa.