Our Hope is in the Lord Psalm 71:5 - Master's Hand Collection

In this short devotional, we’ll read Psalm 71:5 and discover… Our Hope is in the Lord!

We all have hopes and dreams. And we expect the goals we set for ourselves to work out exactly as we plan.

Sometimes they do, and we can celebrate our accomplishments. But other times life gets in the way of our best-laid plans.

We get up every day, go to work, and take care of our families. We’re just going through the motions as the hopes and dreams we started out with slowly fade away. Until one day we find ourselves wondering, is this all there is in life?

I know how it feels to have your hopes and dreams crushed under the weight of life’s demands.

A few years ago, I set out to accomplish a huge life goal. I put everything I had into it. And I truly believed it would change my career and my family’s future.

I was completely invested in it, both financially and emotionally. But no matter how hard I worked, it just didn’t happen.

I was devastated and became disillusioned with the work I was doing. I felt like a total failure who had let my family down. Try as I might, I couldn’t understand what I’d done wrong.

God is Our Hope

The problem wasn’t the work I was doing or the amount of time I’d invested in it.

It was who I was counting on to see the project through. I was relying on myself and my abilities instead of relying on God.

The solution to my problem was simple… I needed to put my hope and trust in God and what He wanted for my future!

And when I began to put my hope in God, He led me in a completely new direction. One full of opportunities to serve Him that I never thought possible.

It may be a different life than what I had planned, but it is a better life than I could ever imagine.

Our Hope is Not in This World

Our doesn’t come from material things. The perfect career, the dream home, or the big bank account. These are worldly things and not heavenly treasures worth possessing.

And when we put our hope in the world and what it provides, we are hoping in ourselves and trusting in our ability to make something happen. In doing so, we’re essentially saying to God, “I don’t need you, I can do it on my own.”

This path of thinking we don’t need God only sets us up for a fall.

Because in hoping in our abilities, we deny ourselves the opportunity to see the goodness of God’s plan in action. And we miss out on the many blessings He has in store for us.

Where does hope come from?

So, if our hope is not in this world or in ourselves, how do we find hope when we need it the most?

This scripture from Psalm 71 tells us exactly where hope comes from…

For You are my hope, O Lord God;
You are my trust from my youth.

Psalm 71:5 NKJV

Hope in God is different from hope in ourselves. It is grounded in His truth and faithfulness to us.

This kind of hope is a concrete confidence in God’s ability to make His will for our life happen.

When we surrender ourselves to God’s will and put our hope in Him, we no longer need to rely on our abilities. We can trust that God has our best future in mind, and He will lead us into it with faith and confidence in His abilities.

My Hope is in the Lord, I will trust in Him

There are many Bible Verses that speak so well to the blessings of placing our hope in God and trusting in Him through thick and thin.

This scripture paints a beautiful picture of the strength that comes when we can say… my hope is in the Lord, I will trust in Him.

Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,

And whose hope is the Lord.

For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes;
But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

The image of a tree planted by the raging river of life yet dipping its roots into the water and receiving all it needs to survive, reminds us of the root of our hope, which is faith in God.

Our trust in the Lord when hard times come and we are tested in ways we never imagined, produces this hope. And just like this tree we will make it through the heat and drought and still produce fruit because our hope is in the Lord.

So, when the heat gets turned up and hope seems lost, remember God will sustain you and make you into the beautiful tree this scripture describes so eloquently.

Jesus is Our Hope

Faith in Jesus is the essential element of the fruit that produces hope. He is the reason for our hope. And without Him, all hope is lost.

Here’s a perfect explanation of how Jesus is our hope…

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter 1:3-5 ESV

God sent His Son, Jesus to this earth not only to give us hope but to be hope Himself.

That means Jesus is our living hope!

In Him, we have forgiveness, salvation, and a living hope that can never be taken away.

And because He is our living hope, we have an inheritance waiting for us in heaven where we will share in the victory of our sovereign Lord.

Praise God for our Lord Jesus Christ our Living Hope! Amen!

Hope for Our Times

In our troubled times, hope is a fleeting feeling that only comes around every now and then.

But that’s okay because God understands how it feels when the hopes and dreams, we have for ourselves fall flat. And as His children, we don’t fall into a dark abyss of hopelessness, instead, we fall into the light of our Heavenly Father’s arms.

This is where hope for our times is found…

The firm foundation of our faith and trust that God has our future in the palm of His hand!

Bible Verse about Hope for the Future

I’ll leave you with this last thought…

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Whatever may come our way, we can be sure of this. We have a loving Father who is always willing to hear us when we cry out to Him, support us when we seek His will, and give us hope for the future.

May you be blessed by placing your hope and trust in God! And in knowing Our Hope is in the Lord!