One of the most encouraging verses in all the Bible, in my opinion, is found in Jeremiah. God’s people have been in captivity in Babylon, and the prophet Jeremiah, by the Holy Spirit, actually says something that is very comforting to anyone facing feelings of hopelessness. God says in Jeremiah 29:11,
“‘For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,’ says the Lord, ‘thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.’”
God is thinking these same thoughts about you: thoughts of peace, and He wants to give you a future and a hope.
A couple of chapters later in Jeremiah 31:16–17, we read,
“Thus says the Lord: ‘Refrain your voice from weeping, and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded,’ says the Lord, ‘and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future,’ says the Lord, ‘that your children shall come back to their own border.’”
There is hope in your future.
That bears repeating. There is hope in your future. Things may look dark. They may look dark in the region where you live in the world. They may look dark in the county you live in, in the city you live in, or in your personal life.
It may seem like the clouds of hopelessness have just come over your life and seem to be shading out everything that is good and positive.
I want to encourage you today and tell you that things are not hopeless.
Go back to the verses above from Jeremiah 29 and 31.
God is thinking thoughts of peace and hope for you, not of destruction.
He does have a hope for your future.
As much as these words applied to the children of Israel in Jeremiah’s day, they apply to you today. If you feel lost in the land of the enemy, God has a future and a hope…a plan for you.
Let me share one more thought to help you overturn hopelessness.
It’s important to realize that, just like faith, hope comes by hearing. The Scripture says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
My friend, hope comes the same way. The devil would love to get you isolated so that you don’t hear other people’s stories about what God is doing in their life and how He’s brought them through situations much like the one you’re facing.
That’s a truth you need to hear—that there are other people that face the same things you face.
They face the same things I face, and God has been faithful to bring them through. We need to hear those stories rather than allow ourselves to become isolated in our thinking or to be physically isolated from others.
In Psalm 78, God’s people are commanded to rehearse the stories of God’s power and intervention in their lives, specifically so that the coming generations would “set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:5-7). Hope comes alive when we hear what God has done for others.
You can discover more about how to overcome seemingly insurmountable challenges with my album of two special messages called “Overturning Hopelessness.” This special collection of messages will remind you that God has a future and a hope for you that can help you overcome hopeless thoughts.
