For YOU are my hope
O LORD GOD
YOU are my confidence from my youth
Psalm 71:5

Throughout our lifetimes situations or circumstances will come up where we periodically struggle with feeling hopeless, as there seems to be no solution. This hopeless feeling is a strong indicator of your level of trust in GOD for what is beyond your control. You can be like Abraham and hope against hope (to have hope when it seems baseless―Rom 4:18), or you can be like the nation of Israel who declared in Ezekiel 37:11, “our bones are dried up and our hope has perished. We are completely cut off.”

When our Beloved LORD GOD told Abraham HE would give him a son with his wife Sarah, he fell on his face and laughed because he was 100 years old and Sarah who had been barren all her life (Gen 11:30) was 90 years old (Gen 17:15-17). But his laughing did not stop his trusting GOD to do what HE promised (Rom 4:19-22). And our faithful GOD did indeed give him and his wife Sarah a son (Gen 21:1-5).

When one continues to focus on their hopeless situation, instead of focusing on the goodness of GOD, their hopeless feeling will turn into a state of hopelessness, accompanied by depression. In Ezekiel 37:1-14, our Beloved LORD GOD teaches us hopelessness is a grave (Eze 37:12-13), a dry and weary place (Psa 63:1, Psa 143:6) without water or the presence of GOD (Eze 37:1-2, Jer 2:13, Jhn 4:10-14, Jhn 7:37-38). And yet in this same passage of Scripture, HE encourages those without hope, that what is impossible for them is possible with HIM (Mrk 10:27). By HIS WORD and HIS SPIRIT, HE can restore life (Eze 37:3-10, Eze 37:14, Luk 7:12-17, Jhn 11:38-44).

If you are at a place in your life where you feel like the prophet Jeremiah “my soul has been rejected from peace, I have forgotten happiness. So I say, “my strength has perished, and so has my hope from the LORD” (Lam 3:17-18). Then strengthen yourself in The LORD as King David did in the midst of his crisis (1 Sam 30:6). Begin by reminding yourself just WHO our Beloved LORD GOD is (Lam 3:19-26), and all that HE has done for you (Psa 103:2-5, Rom 5:8). Then comfort yourself through HIS WORD, which is the consolations of your soul (Psa 94:17-19), do a word study on “hope.” Here are some Scriptures to help you begin:

Psalm 33:18-22
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear HIM, on those who hope for HIS lovingkindness. To deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for The LORD; HE is our help and our shield. For our heart rejoices in HIM, because we trust in HIS holy name. Let YOUR lovingkindness, O LORD, be upon us, according as we have hoped in YOU.

Psalm 38:15
For I hope in YOU, O LORD; YOU will answer, O LORD my GOD.

Psalm 42:11
Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in GOD, for I shall yet praise HIM. The help of my countenance and my GOD.

As you strengthen yourself in The WORD, your soul will be revived (Psa 119:25, Psa 143:11) and refreshing will come (Jer 31:25, Act 3:19). It is then you will understand why HE is our hope (Psa 71:5), and our hope in HIM is literally the anchor of our soul (Heb 6:19, Psa 62:5-6).

In closing, a personal relationship with JESUS CHRIST (Jhn 14:6) is the only way to know The GOD of hope (Rom 15:13). Our hope in GOD comes through HIM (1 Tim 1:1)

But YOU, O LORD, are a shield about me,
My glory, and The ONE WHO lifts my head.
Psalm 3:3