Do you feel bombarded by difficult circumstances, lost in sorrow and struggle? You’re not alone. 

Jeremiah, known as “the weeping prophet,” faced unrelenting adversity and overwhelming sorrow as he warned Israel of God’s impending judgment and pled with his nation to repent. When Israel refused to, God allowed the Babylonians to invade. 

Imagine being Jeremiah and witnessing the siege of Jerusalem. The enemy surrounds the city. Children are starving in the streets. Finally, the city is breached, and the Babylonian army floods it with brutal vengeance. They ransack and then burn the temple, slaughter anyone in their way, and take others captive. 

Amidst the devastation, Jeremiah recorded his grief in the book of Lamentations. As suggested by the title, the book is grief-laden. You’ll hardly find a positive verse in the entire five chapters—except, right in the middle of chapter 3. Here, Jeremiah declares, “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope” (Lamentations 3:21). 

Hope. How could Jeremiah, in the midst of the greatest sadness of his life, still have hope? In the midst of the deepest pain of his life, Jeremiah refused to allow his emotions to lead him. Instead, he focused his mind on what he knew to be true about God. 

Defining Hope

To walk in hope, we must understand the true nature of what it is. Hope is not just a vague optimism. Ultimately, hope is confidence in God’s goodness in the future. Jeremiah could keep his eyes on God through the turmoil because he knew who God was and trusted in God’s promises. Of the Lord’s compassion and mercies, Jeremiah could confidently proclaim, “They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:23).

God showers us with new mercies every morning because we need them every day. If God has shown you His goodness in the past, you can have confidence that He is good and that He will show you His goodness again in the future. That confident expectation for the future is hope. 

David described this confident hope in action when he wrote, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord” (Psalm 27:13–14).

Waiting in Hope

Throughout Scripture, including in Psalm 27 above, we find that hope and waiting go hand in hand. Lamentations 3:26 is another example: “It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.” 

Waiting on God is not passive; it is an active choice to trust Him, even while enduring sorrow or hardship. 

Jeremiah is an example of this. Another is David after the Amalekites took his family as well as his men’s families captive. The situation was hopeless, and all the men wept “until they had no more power to weep” (1 Samuel 30:4). Then, in their pain, David’s men considered stoning their leader. 

But while the situation was hopeless, hope was still to be found. And David knew where to find it. Verse 6 tells us, “but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.”

Waiting in hope means that we focus our attention and our faith on the Lord. In the words of Lamentations 3:21, we purposefully “recall to mind” His faithfulness, compassion, and mercies. This process protects us from being led by our emotions and allows us to be led instead by the truth of who God is. 

In fact, biblical hope centers on its object—Christ. It’s not about the quantity of hope we feel but in whom we place it. As you wait in hope, reflect on what Jesus has done for you. God has shown His love through Christ’s sacrifice, and the Holy Spirit continually assures us of this love. “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us” (Romans 5:5). Believe and meditate on these truths, and hope will be alive in your heart. 

Suffering in Hope

One of the gifts of trials is that we are able to share in the sufferings of Christ and know a fellowship with Him that we do not experience any other way. That fellowship brings true joy. 

Paul put it this way: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). Christ gave His all for me so that I could spend eternity with Him. If Christ’s suffering and death gave me access to the greatest gift and joy imaginable, then I want to know everything I can about the God who poured out perfect love for me—a love which surpasses all understanding (Ephesians 3:19).

It is only when I wait in hope through suffering that I can experience certain aspects of fellowship with Christ. This opens our hearts to the love of God as never before. As much as I want to be in earthly comfort and ease, I want to know Christ more. 

Following in Hope

Hope keeps us busy in communion with the Lord as we become more like Jesus. When we silently wait in hope on the Lord, He leads us by His Spirit into a greater understanding of the love of God and fellowship with Christ. 

I know I need the Lord’s leading in my life, especially through seasons of sorrow or pain. When Jim Schettler is doing the leading, he always winds up lost and discouraged. But when the Holy Spirit leads, He always leads us to the Word of God and the patient waiting on the Lord in hope. 

Don’t let your circumstances dictate your hope. Instead, anchor your hope to the truths of who God is. Wait on the Lord who is with you through every trial. And let hope in God encourage your heart through even the darkest seasons.

This article appears in the latest edition of The Baptist Voice. To view the digital edition, click here.