According to an NBC Radio News report several years ago, a disaster team from Miami, Florida worked feverishly to rescue as many as possible from the debris caused by an earthquake in Turkey. The team’s exhausted captain was asked why they were continuing to look for survivors after five days, when experts had all agreed that 95 hours was the maximum survival time likely without water.
He answered that, though it was difficult to continue under those circumstances, they were encouraged by the desperate yet courageous hope of the family members of the victims. The American captain explained that they continued their search because, “Our hope is in them.”
As long as those tragic people looked to them with any degree of hope, they simply could not give up. Surely we can understand their determination to keep digging.
But human optimism often disappoints. Reason demands that the body can stand just so much. The tissues of human flesh require fluids. Without them, people simply can’t survive. Job asked in Job 6:11, “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?”
Considering his calamitous circumstances, the answer was, “none.” As long as we are dependent on our own strength, hope is extremely limited. With all the ability and talent God has given us in the flesh, sooner or later, it comes to an end. As much as we would like to believe otherwise, man is not invincible.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church of Christ in ancient Rome, “…in this hope we were saved” (Romans 8:24). The context of his confident declaration was the hope of Christians for the resurrection of the human body when Jesus comes to take us homen to heaven. In the same letter, he encourages his readers with the fact hope inspires joy (Romans 12:12). And the psalmist wrote we can inspire delight for the Lord God by putting our hope in his unfailing love (Psalm 147:11). What a blessing is God’s gift of hope in him and his promises!
That’s why it is so important for us to base our hope in God, both in this life and in view of the life to come. If God is willing, he can — and countless times does — answer our prayers of hope for the things we need now. We’re taught to confidently pray for “our daily bread,” and to believe in the loving Shepherd who makes us “lie down in green pastures.”
We need to always pray for God to act in keeping with his will. But his will is for what is best for us — especially if we’re one of his spiritual children.
King David, whose relationship with God was second to none (other than that of Jesus), encouraged us to “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD” (Psalm 31:24). Let me urge you to make David’s words your guidepost this week.