For those who are in Christ, darkness should never be the centerpiece of their conversation, even though darkness might be surrounding them. The Bible tells us that our God is a God of hope, and Romans 15:13 says that it is the God of hope that fills us with all joy and peace; “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” If God is a God of hope and God the Holy Spirit is indwelling us, then no matter how much darkness surrounds us, we too should be filled with hope, and the consequence of Spirit-filled hope is joy and peace. As a matter of fact, that verse in Romans 15 says that the Holy Spirit causes us to “abound” and hope. It seems that so many Christians are filled with the narrative of gloom and doom these days instead of being heralds of hope. 1 Peter 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” We have been placed into a living hope because of the resurrection of Jesus. It is the environment that we live in. Don’t misunderstand me; walking in hope does it mean that you don’t see the darkness; it simply believes the light will always conquer and prevail. If you find yourselves in dispair and walking in hopelessness because of what is happening around us, then maybe your hope was in the wrong thing. Hope deferred makes the heart grow sick, but as Christians we were birthed into a living hope that believes resurrection, and resurrection life, always wins. I love this quote from Bill Johnson; “Any area of our lives for which we have no hope is under the influence of a lie.”
Here’s another great quote from a man named George Herbert; “He that lives in hope dances without music.” Sometimes it feels like the music around us has stopped, but hope does not rely on the music of this world or the circumstances of this life. Hope dances because Christ is risen and God’s goodness will always be revealed. Light always shines out of darkness (2 Corinthians 4:6). If God can bring blessing from the broken body of Jesus and glory from something as obscene as the Cross, then we can have the confident expectation that whatever darkness might be surrounding us the purposes and the blessing of God will come forth. “And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to Him; and He went out conquering, and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:2)
Hope is called the anchor of the soul (Hebrews 6:19) because it gives stability to the Christian life. Every anchor has to have something solid to rest on, and our anchor of hope as a Christian rests the Rock of Ages.
“Then I will give her her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope,” (Hosea 2:15). The word “Achor” is the Hebrew word “trouble,” and the God of hope is the only one who always makes the valley of trouble a door of hope.
Even those believers who are called to speak truth about the darkness should speak that truth bathed in hope, because that’s how God sees it, for our God is a God of hope.