I have a friend who, while taking notes of a Bible teaching, accidently typed the word “nope” instead of “hope”. (N and H are very close on the keyboard!) When she saw the typo, she laughed and said, “Nope?? That’s about as far away from hope as you can get!”
Her story got me thinking…
There is way too much nope in the world. We hear it every day. “Nope” is the world’s answer-of-choice to every question.
For instance…
Question: “Will I recover from this illness?”
The world’s answer: “Nope. But here are some drugs you can try.”
Question: “Will I get this job?”
The world’s answer: “Nope. There are many people more qualified than you.”
Question: “Will I find my soulmate?”
The world’s answer: “Nope. All the good ones are already taken.”
These may seem like silly examples, but isn’t that how the world always responds? Whatever we wonder about, the world has a discouraging answer for. How about the young girl who wonders if she is pretty enough? The world almost always answers, “nope”. And the businessman who wonders if he is successful enough. The world always, always answers, “nope”! Even the question, “Can I do this?” often meets with a resounding, “NOPE” from the world.
Nope is the prevailing attitude of our society because all the schemes of the world are always negative. They are designed to keep people down and prevent them from achieving their best. They are disheartening, degrading and can be down-right debilitating. Nope promotes fear. And with all this nope in this world, people can certainly become dismayed.
So, what’s the solution? The solution to nope is HOPE!
To be clear, I am talking about hope as it’s delineated in the Bible. People talk about hope in the world, but that hope is hollow. It is fraught with uncertainty. “I hope I win the lottery.” That statement really means, “I wish I’d win lottery.” There is no solid foundation to base that hope on, so it’s just a wish and a big fat “if”. The hope of the Bible is a sure thing; it is based on the foundation of God’s Word. It is not an “if”, but a “when”. There is no doubt that the things of God for which we hope, shall come to pass.
In Biblical terms, hope is what we have for things that are not available right now. We believe for the things that we can have now; but we hope for the things of the future.
There is a hope in the Bible called THE hope, which is the hope of Christ’s return. Christ’s return is a promise that God made to us. And this promise is even more sure than the rising of the sun in the morning. If God says that He is going to do something, He IS going to do it, and all hell can’t stop Him. God said that He is going to send His son to gather us together unto Him and so shall we ever be with the Lord. That is an uncontestable promise of an unstoppable event. Therefore, we have THE hope as the anchor of our souls! We KNOW that Christ is coming back for us. And THE hope overrules every single nope.
In our daily lives, we also have many other hopes. I’ve heard them referred to as “little hopes”. For example, I hope my family can visit for Christmas. It’s something that is not available today, so it’s a hope. And that hope anticipates a positive outcome. I can act now by praying with believing and making plans for that time. I can picture all the fun we’ll have. But doing those things does not bring Christmas any sooner. Christmas will still be December 25th.
Hope in the things of God, carries His guarantee. God’s words, His abilities and His promises never fail. And God never changes. So, our hope in Him is sure. We are never disappointed in our expectation when we put our hope and trust in God. However, our hope in people, or circumstances does not carry such a guarantee. People change their minds, situations arise, any number of things can go awry. But that shouldn’t stop us from being hopeful. Isn’t staying hopeful much better than giving into nope?
Hope encourages. Nope discourages. Hope anticipates a positive outcome. Nope prevents a positive outcome. Hope strengthens people’s resolve. Nope beats people down. We can rejoice when we have hope. We are defeated when we have nope. Expecting the best outcome, which hope does, makes that outcome a possibility. Giving in to the negative schemes of the world, which nope does, eliminates any possibility of success.
There will always be nope in the world. But hope can guard us from nope’s negative effects. Hope trounces nope every time!
Psalm 42:5 Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.
We can hold on to hope with its positive expectations because we can pray and believe. And when we pray and believe, we can always, always, always count on God!
Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.
Note to my readers: God is faithful today, tomorrow and forever. We can always keep our hope in Him! Thanks for reading.