Assurance Trumps Hope

By:  Dale Weckbacher

Isaiah 40:31

 But those who wait on the LORD will find new strength.  They will fly high on wings like eagles.  They will run and not grow weary.  They will walk and not faint.

NLT

In 2008 then candidate Obama ran on a platform of hope and change.  He even had a book published titled the audacity of hope.  I find it interesting that they would choose the word audacity for it means “a confident and daring quality that is often seen as shocking or rude.”  (1)  In other words, the title of the book is saying that hope has a quality of confidence and daring and can come across as rude.  However, hope also has a quality of doubt for even though we hope for something, there is always the possibility that what we hoped for may not come true.  Many today that placed their hope in Candidate, and now President, Obama to bring about change and have seen that hope fail to materialize as evidenced by President Obama’s falling approval numbers.  (2) (3)

Since hope carries with it doubt that what we hope for may not materialize, it is better if we seek assurances rather than hope.  Unfortunately in our world where we are taught that there are no absolutes, we have nowhere in the secular world to turn to in order to find assurances.  However, in the Bible, the Word of God, we can find many such assurances.  For example

1)       Isaiah 40:31 – The verse with which I opened this posting promises that we will fly high on wings like eagles signifying that we can soar above our problems.  It also promises that we can run and not grow weary meaning that the troubles of the world will not beat us down but we will maintain the energy we need to continue.  It also promises we will walk and not faint meaning we will not fall under the pressures of our struggles.  Of course these promises are conditional upon us being willing to wait on the Lord.  The Lord is never late but most of the time he does not work according to our schedule.  In our microwave society, we seek instant gratification but the Lord wants us to learn to wait on Him. 

2)      Philippians 4:19 – This verse promises that God, the creator, who created the entire universe, will supply our needs according to his riches.  Since God is the creator of everything, he has access to whatever it takes to meet our needs.  This includes not only my material or physical needs but also my spiritual and emotional needs.  However, this promise is also conditional for it does not say God will provide all my wants, but my needs.  Our prayer should not be for God to supply all our wants but that he would place in our hearts what we should desire (Psalm 37:4-5) and then give us those desires.

3)      Ephesians 2:8-9 – Thankfully our salvation is not because of our own works for if it was, we would only have a hope of salvation and would always doubt because we would see something we did today that was displeasing to God and wonder if that would cause us to lose our salvation.  The good news of the Gospel is that our salvation is dependent upon the finished work of Jesus on the Cross.  We therefore do not have just a hope of salvation, but an assurance of salvation based on the condition that we believe.

4)      John 3:16 – This is the most quoted verse in the Bible and carries with it not just a hope of eternal life in the presence of God but an assurance based upon us believing God sent His only Son to take upon himself all of our sins. 

In the secular world today, Christianity is often vilified.  However, as we have witnessed the failure of hope since 2009, I want to challenge everyone reading this to abandon hope and start trusting in the assurances contained in the Word of God.  Of course these assurances have conditions but as we see in the above examples, these conditions are mostly that we believe in God and Jesus and that we live lives in obedience to Him for this opens the door to a life of assurance. 

If you have not done so already, I challenge you to take a moment and ask God to forgive you of your sins, or the times you have missed the mark with God, and ask Jesus to become Lord of your life.  If you have done this already, take a moment to rededicate your life to God.  I then challenge everyone, including myself, to begin living our lives in obedience to God and His Word.  When we do these things, we can begin living lives of assurance that God will take care of us. 

1. Mirriam Webster Dictionary. Audacity. www.marriam-webster.com. [Online] Encyclopedia Britanica. [Cited: May 31, 2014.] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/audacity.

2. Rasmussen Reports. Daily Presidential Tracking Poll. www.rasmussenreports.com. [Online] Rasmussen Reports, May 31, 2014. [Cited: May 31, 2014.] http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/obama_administration/daily_presidential_tracking_poll.

3. Edelman, Adam. President Obama’s approval rating falls to new low: poll. www.nydailynews.com. [Online] New York Daily News, April 29, 2014. [Cited: May 31, 2014.] http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/president-obama-approval-rating-falls-new-poll-article-1.1772756.