The Simplicity and Magnificence of Hope

Have you ever considered the wonderful hope Jesus offers? It is simple enough to be expressed in children’s prayers, yet magnificent enough to carry us through life's trials and troubles.

When I could barely speak, my mother and I prayed this prayer before every meal.

“God is great. God is good. Let us thank Him for this food. By His hand, we shall be fed. Thank Him for our daily bread.”

When you were a child, did you ever pray this before going to bed?

“Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.”

These prayers are filled with the hope only Jesus can provide. Because He is good, He cares for and provides for our most basic needs. Because of His greatness, He has the power to do as He promises in Scripture.

Matthew 6:26 speaks of the care God provides for the birds and reminds us of how much He values and loves His children. Matthew 6:31-33 reminds us not to worry about basic necessities because God knows what we need. This promise does not mean we won’t experience illness, grief, loss, and death. It does mean that as we walk through them, we have hope that we are not alone or forgotten and that we have a high priest at the right hand of God who intercedes for us and gives us comfort.

His provision goes far beyond our physical needs. 2 Peter 1:3 states that His divine power has given us everything we need to understand who He is and how to live a godly life. Through His Word and His Spirit, we have the guidance and help we need to grow consistently in the likeness of Jesus, bringing glory to God through our lives each day.

In his first letter, the Apostle Peter helps us see the hope we have, as prayed in the nighttime prayer. In 1 Peter 1:3, we read that God, in His great mercy, has given us a “new birth” into a living hope. Because of His sinless life, sacrificial death, and miraculous resurrection, we have the promise of an inheritance kept for us in heaven: eternal life with the Father and the Son.

Many people misunderstand hope as wishful thinking. Some believe that if we work hard and maintain a good attitude, everything will work out and good things will happen. Others believe that if they are good people who do good deeds, their hopes will come to fruition.

Our hope as believers is sure and rests on a strong, everlasting foundation. We have a high priest who saves those who come to God through Him from eternal death and intercedes for us from the right hand of God's throne (Heb 7:22-25).

Our ultimate hope should not be in possessions, money, career, or status. It cannot ultimately rest on friends, family, or other earthly relationships. All of these things are temporary and can change or be taken away. At times, they can bring joy and encouragement, but they cannot provide the everlasting hope that a relationship with Jesus offers.

No, our hope is not wishful thinking; it is confidence in God's promises because of who He is.

When we face life's trials and troubles, including the suffering that comes from living in a sin-stained world, we have the hope that the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, loves us and provides for us. His love and provision are permanent and true… they are promised. Jesus’ provision is not conditional or self-serving. He loves us more than we can ever know or imagine. In His power and goodness, He can provide guidance and direction that we know will always be for our good and His glory. Most importantly, He has already provided the most important thing: a restored relationship with God. With this relationship, God has promised that everything we encounter will be used for our good and His glory. We have hope that all things can make us more like Jesus and ultimately glorify God in the process (Rom 8:28).

Perhaps that is why the simple prayers we learned as children hold more truth than we realized. God is great, and God is good. He knows what we need and cares for us as His children. Jesus died and rose again, and our greatest need has already been met. Because of this, we have a living hope that sickness, suffering, disappointment, or even death cannot take away