But hope is a powerful word which we often misuse in our conversations today. Generally we say something like “I hope it’s not going to rain tomorrow.”, meaning that there’s no certainty about that at all.

In the Bible hope is always positive, never uncertain. Psalm 33:18 says “but the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,'' Now, as God’s love is unfailing, hope in that love is absolutely positive, because God never ever fails.

Also, hope should be constant, and that seems to be our responsibility largely. One of my favourite lessons on this subject is the story of King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26. He became the King of Israel at the age of 16 and did a great job following his father’s example, and God blessed him with power and success. But then it started to go to his head and he began to rely on himself more than on keeping in line with God. The final straw was when he decided to usurp priestly functions and entered the temple himself to burn incense. He must have been quite an impressive man because 81 priests went together to tell Uzziah that what he was doing was radically wrong. Predictably, Uzziah became angry with the priests and, as soon as he did, a spot of leprosy broke out on his forehead – and that was the end of him. A lesson for us to keep our hope in God and our obedience to Him constant.

And, hope is forward looking. In Psalm.25:5 the writer says to God “Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my savior, and my hope is in you all day long.” Yesterday has gone, we either made a mess of it, or it was good. The mistakes God forgives – the good is to His Glory. But today tomorrow are the important ones. If your life is in God’s hands, the future is never hope-less.

But hope has to start somewhere and, like faith, it cannot exist in a vacuum, it has to have an object. Life really is hopeless unless you know the One who invented the concept.

Ps.63:1-8