Balanced Hope

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5

I will tell you this, in “hopes”, I can enlighten you on the emotion of hope!

Hope is a powerful human emotion.  My close friends know that I am a person that goes to extremes.  I love really big, I hurt for others really big, I help more than I should, I worry really big, I say more than I should.  I’m not good at doing things on an average level.

When I hope, I also hope BIG!  Seems having a giant dose of hope would be healthy, and it is, if it’s balanced with faith and dependence on God.  An imbalance here leads to despair, which is typically what will follow when we choose to have unbalanced hope.

I had to learn the hard way, but if I can help you learn what I didn’t understand, then it was worth it.  Recently, I hoped big and was let down even bigger.  Then I hoped again, this time even bigger, and was let down all the harder.  God had some explaining to do when I went to Him with my lost hope.

“Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act.” Psalm 37:5

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” John 14:1

This is the hope I needed.  I needed to trust and have faith in His plans.  Not have hope in mine.  Trust and faith in God’s plans, will give you reasonable hope.

The Bible talks about hope many times, and while it’s good to have a lot of hope, I’ve learned there needs to be a balance between, spiritual hope, joyful faith, and trust in God.

I filled my mind and heart with many scriptures about hope and it did give me peace and joy.  I neglected to balance my hope with trust that God knows all.  I also neglected to understand, what seems to be a dead end will actually be a path that was paved by God, specifically for me.  I wasn’t depending on the plans that God made, and I didn’t have faith that His way was better than what I was telling him.

When we hope, we are desiring and expecting positive outcomes, RIGHT NOW!  Being God’s child, I know this isn’t always the case.  Hence his answered prayers go something like this…. “No!”, “Yes!”, or “I have something better!”

Perhaps God is saying this to you today… “I have paved the way, and you will be blown away when you see what I did at the end of this road.  I love you child, I did this for YOU.”

Hope is powerful, and I highly recommend reading all God has to say about having hope in Him.

Much of life is about finding balance.  Hope, balanced with faith and trust in God, will carry us a long way while traveling the unknown.

Heavenly Father, I praise your almighty name and ask that you give me strength to move forward, While the road may be difficult, please give me strength to persevere and fulfill your will for my days.  Help me to walk in your light and live my life in faith and glory.  In Jesus name, Amen.