Finding HOPE When Life Seems Hopeless

By Philip K. Hardin, MA, MDiv, LMFT, LPC

A father answers his phone: “Daddy, I’m scared!” His child is in distress, scared and uncertain about life.

What do you do as a father when confronted with a child who needs hope?

How can we assure our children there is hope for the future, whether they are being confronted by fears with health issues, relationship challenges, career fears, or concerns about our country?

How do we find hope when life seems hopeless?

There is a path to hope that is described in Romans 5:3-5.

Paul tells us in Romans 5:3-5, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us (ESV).”

Suffering – Endurance – Character – Hope – that’s the road.

Romans 5:3-5 tells us how we can gain hope!

First,

We gain hope through persevering in our trials (Romans 5:3).

That’s worth saying again—trials produce perseverance in us. They are the best means God uses to build this all-important character quality in us.

Christians are “perseverers.” We are overcomers. True believers make it through the valley to the other side because God ensures that we do. That’s why Paul rejoices at his trials because they have taught him to keep hanging on. I Peter 1:3 describes it as “a living hope.” The hope for our life is the secure hope that we find in God.

So, what is the relationship between suffering and hope?

From suffering comes the endurance when joined with God’s Word, produces hope. The endurance-producing, patience-instilling trials prove or reveal our character.

Proven character, as a result of perseverance, reveals you belong to the Lord —for only those who are His keep returning to Him. No matter how miserably we fail, no matter how discouraged we become, we keep looking to Jesus.

That leads to five things to take away from Romans 5:3-5:

1. Hard times produce endurance in our hearts.

2. God teaches and instructs us about Himself in the “school of endurance.”

3. Your endurance, your perseverance, your patient waiting brings glory to the Lord and produces a heart of maturity and character.

4. Your trials, and your enduring in them, reveal the true state of your heart.

This “proven character” is great cause for rejoicing because it reveals that you are a “new creature in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17).”

5. The stronger we grow in character, the more we are assured that we will get through the hard time, i.e. hope for the future.

As I consider my own future, I often begin each day reminding myself of Job 13:14 —“Though He slay me, I will hope in Him.” I seek to always be anchored and motivated by Job’s words.

From the words of Job, I suggest the following basic steps in securing the hope you need for your future:

1. Develop Intimacy with God

Build a history with God. Job knew God. He’d had a lifetime with Him. Though he didn’t understand what was happening in his life, he could put his trust in the Lord and in his past experience with God.

It was Job’s history with the Lord that allowed him to say: “Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:10).

Are you building a history with the Lord?

2. Trust God – Walk by Faith

Rest in Knowing God’s character. Job 10:12 says “You have granted me life and steadfast love, and your care has preserved my spirit.”

God’s care? Job had just lost everything. How could he think about God’s care in his great crisis of loss and disaster? Job’s secret was that he understood that joy in life does not rest in present circumstances but in the goodness of God.

Do you get it, too?

3. Be Assured that God Will Make a Way

Believe in God’s ability. Job knew that God can do anything! He specializes in things thought impossible. He does the things others cannot do. Job testifies to that when he says: “[God] who does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number.”

Do you believe God can do anything?

4. Do Not Allow Fear to Control You

Refuse to settle for a limited perspective. Just because you don’t see God at work doesn’t mean He is not working on your behalf. Don’t limit your vision to what you can see. God is at work all the time.

In Job 9:11 it says, “Behold, he passes by me, and I see him not; he moves on, but I do not perceive him.”

God is fighting for you even now!

5. Listen to Encouragers

Stop listening to the negative influences. Quiet the naysayers.

Finally, in Job 13:4–5, Job tells his friends: “worthless physicians are you all. Oh, that you would keep silent . . .” Don’t you love those friends who always see the negative in any situation? They are quick to point out your problems and slow to hand out compliments. Eventually, there will come a time and a place for you to tell those folks to “butt out.”

At the beginning of each day, I seek to anchor my life in God. I do not trust in people or circumstances for my future. My hope is in God. I hope yours is too!

Ride ON!

Phil Hardin works as a Licensed Professional Counselor and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with Hardin Life Resources practicing in both Jackson, MS and Fairhope, AL.

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