Deuteronomy 1:29b-30a “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you.
“Where there is no hope in the future, there is no power in the present.” -John Maxwell
Fear eats hope for breakfast! An army that has lost hope has already lost the battle. Fear swallows the ‘passion to fight’ and drowns us in problems and perturbations. Fear of the future, fear of people, fear of the unknown can cause a cacophony in our mind and consume our hope. Where hope weakens, faith goes missing.
The United Nations was birthed after the bloody, ravaging ‘Second World War’ to foster peace among nations and prevent future conflicts. The devastating years of war resulted in loss of humanity and hope. At the 65th anniversary, the UN congregated to write the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). This was called ‘a document of hope’ and ‘a vision for a nuclear-weapon free world’.
God’s Word is ‘the document of hope’ to our soul. No legislation, literature or liturgy can implant hope into our hearts. Only the promises of God can. The disbelieving Israelites lost their heritage because they lost hope in the Lord. They apparently suffered from short-term memory loss and forgot that their Lord and God delivered them from the hands of the tyrant Pharaoh. The indelible sight of the Red Sea splitting before their eyes seemed to have evaporated into thin air. They could not even remember the manna that rained from heaven every morning nor could they envisage the presence of the Lord in the pillar of fire that canopied them throughout the desert. Fear brunched their hope and butchered their faith. Hence they grumbled themselves to defeat.
Defend your hope:
1. Fury: Hopelessness makes us angry and bitter. The despondent Israelites grumbled in their tent, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us (Deuteronomy 1:27). Getting angry at God doesn’t help, it just guarantees defeat. When we find ourselves upset with God or questioning His faithfulness, remember hope is running low and faith is about to die. Recharge hope.
2. Fatigue: Desperation causes fatigue. Hope deferred makes the heart sick (Proverbs 13:12). Spiritual exhaustion is dangerous. Fatigue stops the spiritual heart and darkens the soul. Revive hope.
3. Fervor: Perturbations kill passion. Anxiety, stress and fretfulness annihilate hope. The Israelites lost all fervor to fight and to possess the promised land as they lost all the hope of survival. The giants and the lofty strongholds in Canaan appeared to be loftier than their miracle working God. ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’ (Deuteronomy 1:28). The size of your passion and fervor will only be as big as the magnitude of hope and the measure of your faith. Reignite hope.
When hope fills our heart with oxygen, our heart will pump vigor and passion.
Psalm 147:11 The LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
Prayer: Oh God my Saviour, my hope in you and your Word is the document of hope in this ever changing and chaotic world. Amen.
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