"Hope" Series Day 3: Why should we hope in God?
by Jamie Steach
Read 1 Timothy 6:17
What implication is made about God in comparing hope in God to hope in wealth? Why does Paul say we should hope in God instead? Why is certainty important when we’re talking about hope?
Read Hebrews 6:13-20
Where did Abraham put his hope? Was that hope rewarded? What evidence did God give Abraham, and us, for the basis of hoping in Him?
Read verse 17 again, slowly. Why is God a trustworthy place to put our hope? Why can we trust in His promises? What do you see God telling you in verses 17-18? What truths about Him can you take to heart?
When we take hold of the hope set before us, what do we gain? What is this hope supposed to give us? What is the purpose of an anchor?
Why is it significant to include the inner sanctuary and Jesus as a high priest in this passage? What might God be trying to tell us about the nature of our hope? The power of what God has done transcends all things and all time; can you feel that when you read this passage?
Read Hebrews 11:1-2, 8-16 (the whole chapter is really worth reading if you have the time)
How are faith and hope connected (try to incorporate what we have established about hope into your response)? Can you have faith without hope? What about hope without faith? How do you know?
Should our hope or faith be affected by what we know or see? Did Abraham let these things affect him? Where did he put his expectation, his hope? How did that feed his faith? God’s promise is in play again here; how do God’s promises fit into our hope?
Was the expectation, or hope, of Abraham and Sarah in what they could do or what God could do? What evidence do you see in the text of this? Why was Sarah able to have Isaac in her old age? What does that tell us about her hope?
We see that these people died before seeing God’s plan on earth fulfilled, but do you think that means their hope was unfulfilled? What was the real nature of God’s promise to them? Why were they longing for a heavenly country? If this was their longing, what do you think was their hope, their expectation?
Wrap up:
Why should we place our hope in God? How does our relationship with God affect our hope in Him? How can we emulate the hope and relationship with God that Abraham had? How can we grow our faith like his? Is it important to know God’s promises? Why?
About this series
Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. (Proverbs 13:12)
Yachal = hope: to wait, expect; waiting with expectation (OT)
Elpizō = hope: to wait with joy and full confidence, to trust in (NT)
Elpis = hope: expectation of good; the thing hoped for (NT)
Hope is a common topic in the Bible, and while many references speak of placing hope in God, we have a few other examples, as well. But what do all of these various references have in common?
Acts 16:19 - hope of making money=expectation of making money
Luke 24:21 - expectation that Jesus was going to redeem Israel (like David)
Jeremiah 23:16 - false expectations
These 3 examples capture the specific nature of hope that echoes through the Bible: to have hope is to have expectation, and usually it involves waiting on that expectation. So what exactly does expectation have to do with God? As it turns out, a lot.