What To Do When Faith Feels Tough – Trust In Hope
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful”
Hebrews 10:23
This week we’ve been looking at how to journey faith well when it feels tough; particularly in seasons when one bad thing seems to come after the other. I’ve tried to provide some examples and strategies of what to do to help guide our emotions, and I hope these are helpful and encouraging.
As Christians, we believe that Jesus offers us life and life in all its fulness. We are designed to thrive. We believe that Jesus has overcome the power of death and sin and pain, and offers in its place an exciting, adventurous journey of life following him. Note - this isn’t an offer of a problem-free, perfect life, but one of wholeness and stability despite the circumstances we face.
God is faithful. His promise of bringing life from death is permanent, unswerving and consistent. He promises us hope. And this life-transforming, culture-shaping, earth-shattering truth is so, so much greater than any opposition we may face in our lives. So the final part to the puzzle I’ve tried to piece together this week is to trust in hope. No matter the severity of the situation, God has won; he rules and reigns and we can access his peace by realigning our perspective with his. Here and now. Some days, more than others, it’s harder to come back to this place of peace, but the tough times can strengthen our faith in the long run and invite us into greater intimacy with God, to see more of his kingdom break through around us.
For those journeying these devotionals since Monday, you heard about my few difficult weeks culminating in my car potentially being a write off and a grossly overpriced £50 Uber ride. In fact, my car was repaired for a fraction of the money I would’ve lost had it not been fixed, and I got a full refund on my Uber. But by the time those situations had resolved, God had moved in some other amazing ways in my life so that these situations in comparison were relatively insignificant. Yet another lesson in my continual spiralling growth of maturity - so when the next season of finding faith tough occurs (which will most certainly happen!) I’m ready to face the challenge and grow in new ways I couldn’t have accessed before.
Prayer – Lord - thank you for the promise you have made to me. Thank you that you are faithful. Thank you that there is grace when I doubt or go off track and that you are always there with open arms to welcome me home. I choose faith again. I choose to trust in hope again. I choose to put you first and invite your Holy Spirit to fill me afresh today. Heal me and grow me, in Jesus name.
UPDATE – I wrote these devotionals a few weeks ago. Last weekend the car (after the repair described above!) was crashed into and is now most certainly a write-off! So I’ve been needing to ‘practice what I preach’ and live out these devotionals this week more than I expected. God’s been so kind and provided in some amazing ways - and I’ve learnt even more than I expected in the journey, it just happened in a very different way to what I expected, and a lot sooner than I thought!