Isaiah 40:31 But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
“Hope” is the powerade that grows the wings of patience and perseverance. Hope helps us soar like eagles. Hope is the oxygen pipeline to the heart that houses our faith. When hope stops breathing, faith will die. Hope, the confident expectation of receiving from the hand of God, becomes the airway passage that gives life to faith. If we pray fervent prayers yet, wait for the worst to happen, our fainting hope will suffocate our faith. The substance of faith is fed by the Powerade of living hope.
In 1950, Curt Richter, a professor at John Hopkins did a rat drowning psychology experiment to prove the “power of hope”. He plunged rats into a bucket and tested how long they fought back to swim and survive. The rats lasted for about 2 minutes before they drowned. Then he tested again with another batch of rats and this time around just before they gave up swimming, he rescued them, patted them dry, fed them and then threw them back into the bucket. Second time around they swam for much longer as they knew that the hand of Curt would soon come to rescue them. Curt wrote that “the rats quickly learnt that the situation is not actually hopeless” and that “after elimination of hopelessness the rats do not die.” Though humans are very different from rats, it has been proved that individuals who have hope have a higher level of perseverance to fight back and survive. The power of hope keeps us resilient, resuscitated and respiring.
Hope grows wings when the legs grow weary of running, fighting and persevering.
Hope is the Powerade that keeps us going:
- Resilience: Hope makes us pliable and resilient when life knocks us down. Proverbs 24:16 For though a righteous man falls seven times. Thomas A Edison who made 1,000 unsuccessful attempts before inventing the light bulb said, “I have not failed, I’ve found 1,000 ways that won’t work”. Hope is the Powerade that will build resilience.
- Recover: Hope is the medication that will help us to recover a knockdown or a lockdown! Fear of the unknown kills faith but the lifeline that resuscitates faith during unprecedented times is hope. David wrote Psalm 27 in the depth of the darkest dump yet in his perilous times, his heart was hooked on the rope of hope. Psalm 27:3 Though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear; though war break out against me, even then I will be confident. Hope is the Powerade that helps us to recover from a dunk.
- Respire: Hope is the respiratory organ that keeps our spiritual lungs breathing and the heart pumping. The main causes for suicidal thoughts are hopelessness, loneliness and dreariness. Hopelessness is like closing our eyes and trying to search for the light. As long as the hope pumps oxygen into our lungs we will keep breathing to see the best unfold. Hope is the Powerade that keeps us breathing.
The ‘power of hope’ will keep us swimming, fighting and hoping to see the hand of our Sovereign Saviour.
The wings of hope will take us to heights where the hamstrings fail to carry us.
Zachariah 9:12 Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, may my spiritual lungs be filled with the “oxygen of hope” that will build my resilience and grow the wings of patience and perseverance. Amen.
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