Hope does not disappoint us

 'And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out (and continues to pour out) his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.'   Romans 5:5 

my words in brackets

Disappointment is one of the most crippling conditions known to man as it saps hope from our lives.  Without hope, life is very dismal.  In the Bible hope does not refer to an optimistic anticipation of some future event; hope is the sure expectation of God doing what he has promised which is why Paul was able to say so confidently that hope does not disappoint us.

Disappointment happens when we place our hope on anything other than God; exam results, career prospects, winning the lottery, getting married, having children, the pastor promoting our ministry, children looking after us in our old age, good health.  When we place our hope on these sorts of things all goes well till they let us down as they inevitably will. Then our world collapses and disappointment floods in.

As it says in Proverbs 13:12 ,’hope deferred makes the heart sick.’   Disappointment causes us to pull back from God and other people.  We feel like we have put our hope out there and we have become vulnerable and now we have been let down.  It makes us wary of trusting people and God and so we lose our expectation and hope to protect ourselves from further disappointment.

However Paul assures us that hope (the confident expectation of God’s goodness) will not disappoint us.  The two disciples on the road to Emmaus after Jesus’ death and resurrection were terribly disappointed (Luke 24:13 – 35).  They said to the risen Lord, not realising who he was, ‘but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel’ (verse 21).  They had placed their hope in God but were still disappointed – why?  They explain to Jesus in great detail why they were disappointed but these very reasons should have been a source of hope not disappointment!  Jesus though was there in the midst and explained it all to them and then revelation comes!  They realise that Jesus himself has been with them all the time.  The very person they had hoped in, had not disappointed them.

If you are sitting with disappointment weighing heavily on you, take it to Jesus. Explain to him exactly why you are disappointed and let him bring you his hope in the midst of it.  You may have been placing your hope on things or people other than Jesus or you may just have misunderstood his workings in your life. 

 

Let God restore hope to you today and let him pour out and continue to pour out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.