Bible verses about hope
There Is Always Hope
No matter what has happened to you, there is always hope.
Don't ever lose sight of that.
Hope is not pretending things are fine. The people who wrote these words had lost cities, homes, children, health, and years. Some of them wrote from the rubble. They did not deny what had happened. They looked straight at it and said, in effect, "And yet."
That is what this page is for. Whatever you are carrying today, read slowly. Stop on the verse that meets you where you are. You do not have to feel hopeful to hold on to hope. Sometimes you just hold on.
One
When your soul is downcast
“Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him,
The help of my countenance and my God.”
The writer talks back to his own sadness. He does not scold himself for feeling low. He asks honest questions, and then he points his heart somewhere: hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him. Yet. The story is not finished.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I have hope in Him.”
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he waits silently
For the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations was written after Jerusalem burned. In the middle of that grief comes this: His compassions are new every morning. Not new once a year. Every morning. Whatever yesterday held, today you get a fresh supply.
“I wait for the LORD, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.”
“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.
Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy.
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.”
Though I fall I will rise. Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me. Notice that Micah admits both the fall and the darkness. Hope does not require you to deny either one.
Two
When it looks impossible
“In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “SO SHALL YOUR DESCENDANTS BE.””
In hope against hope. Abraham was about a hundred years old. Every natural reason for hope was gone, and he hoped anyway, because of who had made the promise. When the odds say no, God has not finished speaking.
“Then I will give her her vineyards from there,
And the valley of Achor as a door of hope.
And she will sing there as in the days of her youth,
As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt.”
Achor means trouble. It was a place remembered for failure and judgment. God says He will turn the valley of trouble into a door of hope. The place where things went wrong can become the place where something new begins.
“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”
Three
When you are tired of waiting
“Yet those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.”
Some days you will soar. Some days you will run. And some days, walking without fainting is the victory. All three are in this verse, and all three count.
“Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the LORD.”
‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’
These words were first written to people in exile, far from home, who were told they would be there a long time. Build houses, God told them. Plant gardens. Seek the welfare of the city where you are. The promise of a future and a hope was given to people who had to wait for it, and it held. It is not a promise that hard things will end tomorrow. It is a promise that God has not forgotten you while you wait.
Four
A hope that holds
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil,”
An anchor does not stop the storm. It keeps you from being carried away by it. And this anchor is fastened behind the veil, the curtain that was torn in two when Jesus died, opening the way to God for anyone who comes. Read more about the torn curtain.
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;”
“And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
Hope does not disappoint. This is not a hope that was built on everything going well. It was forged in tribulation, and it rests on the love of God already poured into your heart.
“O Israel, hope in the LORD;
For with the LORD there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.”
Five
A living hope with a name
In the end, Christian hope is not a mood or a wish. It is a Person. Hope has a name, and His name is Jesus. Because He rose from the dead, the worst thing is never the last thing.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
“to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
A blessing for you
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
No matter what happens, there is always hope.
Don't ever lose sight of it.
Need to see hope in a real life?
Read true, sourced stories of people who started again after losing what they built, and people who found purpose by helping someone others overlooked. Or tell us what you are facing and get encouragement written for you.
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