Written by Deanne L.
Psalm 33:22 “Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.”
Two words stand out to me in this verse. The first is mercy and the second is hope. Without God’s mercy we would not have hope.
According to the dictionary, Hope is defined as “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen; a feeling of trust.” If you search for the definition online, you’ll also get a prompt for the biblical definition which states “Hope is the confident expectation of what God has promised.” I like the biblical definition as it includes the word “confident” before expectation and also notes it is “what God has promised”.
I often wonder what people who have not accepted Christ do when faced with the daily challenges of life. What do they rely on? Everyone can hope, but without God’s promise, their hope is just a feeling of expectation and a desire. A Christian’s Hope is a confident expectation because we know it is based on what God has promised.
God’s word is full of verses on Hope. In Hebrews 6:19 we are told “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil”. Romans 15:13 “Now the God of hope will fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.” This verse also holds God’s promise as he sent the Holy Ghost to comfort us after his Son returned to sit beside Him in heaven. God’s word is full of promises. Promises we can hold fast to when we are faced with the daily challenges of life. Commit these promises to memory and when things get tough, when you’re not sure what to do, stop and remember, you have Hope, promised by our heavenly Father. Call on him, don’t do it on your own.