Rev 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. (4) He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
In this present world, we all too often meet people whose situation seems hopeless. Many of you have either been in that position and others of you are in it right now. You are stuck. You have been deceived by an evil spouse. You have children from the marriage. You have given your life to raising those children and have not been in the workplace, so leaving and supporting yourself is not possible. The evil one threatens to take your children and has the legal resources to keep you in court for years. Your family members have been turned against you by the lies. Your church only reinforces the demand that you remain married. This is just an all too common scenario.
Hope is a powerful thing. And so is hopeLESSness. Our enemy knows this very well. Satan can be expected to do all that he can through his servants to strip hope away from us. I had a good friend who caved to this hopelessness and threw himself off a bridge and drowned. He was a Christian, but the enemy got such a grip on him that he concluded that death was his only “hope.” Which, of course, is no hope at all.
But for the Christian, hopelessness is a LIE. When your mind is dwelling on your hopeless condition, then you need to shake the lie out of your mind and replace it with Christ’s truth. Part of hopelessness is the idea that it has no end. That your hopeless condition is permanent. THAT IS A LIE! Listen to Peter on this:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
(1Pe 1:3-9)
There is an OUTCOME if you know Christ. Now, “for a little while, you are grieved by various trials. But the Lord is using these very trials for His glory and for your good – for the strengthening of your faith.
One day your grief is going to be changed into “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.” That IS going to happen. This is hope. It is certain. Every thought that Satan launches at you like a missile is a lie. We must shield ourselves from these darts with faith in the certain and true promises of the Lord. The devil is not going to win. He cannot separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus, no matter what trials he sends your way. So never give in to hopelessness. For the Christian, it is a lie.