HOW TO FIND HOPE IN ANY SITUATION

Our plans are a reflection of our heart. We’ve thought about them, dreamed about them, weighed them out, prayed about them. In many cases, they’ve been years in the making.

So when those plans start falling to pieces, it deeply affects us. I know it does me. 

Many of us are going through a season of unrest, unease, and confusion. Some people lost everything because of the pandemic. Others are struggling with war or the threat of war. We don’t know what’s going to happen in our cities, and we really don’t know what’s going to happen in the world.

Acts 27 tells an interesting story that lines up with the difficult season we’re walking through.

The apostle Paul was on his way to Rome via ship when a huge storm came up. That’s what we’re experiencing now—a type of storm. Some of us can deeply identify with verse 20:

Since neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small storm was assailing us, from then on all hope of our being saved was slowly abandoned. (NASB)

They thought they were going to die.

But then an angel appeared to Paul and reassured him, and something happened in Paul’s heart.

Instead of losing hope, he seized the message God had told him. He went back to the beginning. “What did God say for me to do? I’m going to do that.”

He boldly told the crew:

Yet now I urge you to keep up your courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship… Therefore, keep up your courage, men, for I believe God that it will turn out exactly as I have been told. (vv. 22, 25)

When we go back to the beginning and review what God has said, we will find our courage. Paul knew they were going to make it because he had a promise from God. “I know I am to stand before Caesar, so we WILL survive this.”

Here’s an activation for this week:

What has God promised you? What has He said about your business? What has He said about your family? Go back to the beginning and find your courage.

Write what God said on a piece of paper, and spend time in contemplation. Pray over that page. “This is what the Lord has told me, and I know we will survive this storm, because He has given me a promise.”

God will perform His word.