Soul Hope

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“Unless the LORD had helped me, I would soon have settled in the silence of the grave. I cried out, ‘I am slipping!’ but your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.” — Psalm 94:17-19

Have you ever felt “sick at soul”? Perhaps you could characterize this feeling as frustration over your plans being turned upside-down, or uncertainty over where things are leading, or losing control over everything that is happening in your life, or worry over finances, or concern over how you are going to make it through deployment without your spouse? Sound familiar? Read these verses and see if you can connect this feeling of soul sickness with something:

“Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” — Psalm 42:5, similar in 42:11 and Psalm 43:5

“Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him.” — Psalm 62:5

“My soul faints with longing for Your salvation, but I have put my hope in Your word.” — Psalm 119:81

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope.” — Psalm 130:5

“Know also that wisdom is sweet to your soul; if you find it, there is a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off.” — Proverbs 24:14

Bible teacher Beth Moore says, “When our soul is sick it is because we are going through a time or season of hopelessness.” Is that true in your life? Have you lost hope?

It has been my experience that when I have lost hope it is because I have forgotten one or more of these five things (which are all closely related):

God’s Presence. When we think God has forgotten us, or has somehow lost track of us, we can lose hope. That is the perfect time to read Psalm 139, including these verses:

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast.” — Psalm 139:7-10

When I read these verses, I think of “far side of the sea” as referring to those deployed to the Gulf, or to the desert. I think of the heavens as to where our airplanes are flying. And when I read verses 11-12, I think of night-vision goggles: “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to You; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to You.” God never takes His eyes off of us. He knows where you are and what you are doing!

God’s Perspective. When we lose perspective, we can lose hope. I’m not talking about just some kind of “positive attitude,” but the ability to see that which is unseen—how God is working in and through your current situation (however treacherous), and then bringing you through it with renewed strength. If you have read Good to Great by Jim Collins, you read of the Stockdale Paradox. Admiral Jim Stockdale, the highest-ranking POW in Hanoi during the Vietnam War and imprisoned eight years, tells about how those who survived made it, not with optimism, but with this lesson: “You must never confuse faith that you will prevail in the end—which you can never afford to lose—with the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.” (p. 85) A Christian’s perspective—that this life is not all there is—is beautifully written by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” Deployments will end; our life on earth will end; but love never fails and life with our Savior in heaven will never end. That’s perspective!

God’s Power. When we forget God’s power, we can lose hope. It’s so easy to forget the things that our powerful God has done for us in the past. Therefore it’s a good discipline to keep a journal, or list, of how God has gotten you through trials in the past. David did this before he went to fight Goliath. David remembered how God protected him in the past, and told King Saul, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” (1 Samuel 17:37) So often we forget the things we should remember, and remember the things we should forget. Remember God’s powerful faithfulness!

God’s Provision. When we try to project our strength for today into the unknown of tomorrow, we can lose hope. It’s so easy to ask, “How in the world am I going to get through this?” This is the perfect time to remember the Manna Principle—God’s provision of grace and strength is available when it is needed, and not before. Like God provided manna as food for the Jewish wanderers in the wilderness during their forty years before they reached the Promised Land, He provides for us today. It is sometimes a daily thing, sometimes hour-to-hour. We cannot store it up—He gives us a fresh supply of truth from His word and grace to endure when we have the need—and when we ask. I will never forget hearing an editor, who was on staff with Billy Graham’s Decision magazine, proclaim the words from Lamentations 3:22-23 during devotional time, “How great a God we serve that His mercies are new every morning!”

God’s Promises. When we forget that God is faithful, we can lose hope. I will never forget a particular gloomy day when meeting with some Navy wives, whose husbands were all deployed. We read Psalm 145 together, and were reminded in verse 13 that, “The LORD is faithful to all His promises . . .” The mood lifted as we remembered Isaiah 41:10, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” He is faithful, and because of that we can have hope. “And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us.” Romans 5:5

Questions to Share:

1. Recall a time that you lost hope (perhaps now). Which one(s) of the list above had you forgotten?

2. Take time to pray to God, either alone or with your spouse, for forgiveness and strength to remember God’s presence, God’s perspective, God’s power, God’s provision, and God’s promises.