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What the Bible says
Jeremiah wrote from the ruins of Jerusalem, yet he said, “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope” (Lamentations 3:21). What did he recall? “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23). Hope did not come from his circumstances. It came from remembering who God is. “The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him” (Lamentations 3:24).
Christian hope rests on an empty tomb. Peter blesses God, who “hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). Paul calls it “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27), and tells us to keep “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). Because Jesus lives, the believer’s hope is a living hope.
God even uses trouble to grow hope. Paul writes that “tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope” (Romans 5:3–4). And this hope does not disappoint: “hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost” (Romans 5:5). Hope looks beyond what is seen: “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Romans 8:25).
Hebrews describes this hope “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:19). An anchor holds when the storm does not stop. God gave the Scriptures to feed it: “that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). And Paul prays for every weary heart, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Romans 15:13).
13 verses, King James Version
1 Peter 1:3
A lively hope by the resurrection
3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Romans 5:3–5
Hope that maketh not ashamed
3And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
Romans 15:4
Hope through the Scriptures
4For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
Colossians 1:27
Christ in you, the hope of glory
27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
Lamentations 3:19–24
Hope recalled in deep affliction
19Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him.
Romans 15:13
Hope by the power of the Spirit
13Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
Matthew 12:20
Jesus is gentle with the bruised
20A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgment unto victory.
Hebrews 6:18–19
Hope that holds like an anchor
18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;
2 Corinthians 4:8–10
Pressed down, not destroyed
8We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; 9Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 10Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
Psalms 71:20
God can bring you up from the depths
20Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
Jeremiah 32:27
Nothing is too hard for Him
27Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Psalms 39:7
Where to put your hope
7And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.
Psalms 146:5
Help and hope in God
5Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God:
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (public domain). Read aloud by Anthony.