Sometimes we can feel trapped in a cycle of sadness and hopelessness. We’re not sure how to deal with how we feel, or how to escape the overwhelming thoughts and emotions. In Psalm 43, the psalmist is feeling down and discouraged, and writes:‘Why, my soul, are you downcast?Why so disturbed within me?’ When we feel trapped by our negative emotions, we can forget all the good things in our lives. The blessings that we have can become hidden behind our thoughts and emotions. We can forget that we are loved by God, and that He is good. We forget that He has a plan and purpose for us. We can lose our hope that things can ever get better. But the psalmist goes on to tell himself: ‘Put your hope in God,for I will yet praise him, mySaviourand my God.’ It’s not always going to come naturally to us to hope in God, and praise Him despite the circumstances. Sometimes, like the psalmist, we have to tell our souls to do it. So when things are falling apart in our lives, how can we have hope in God? Firstly, we need to remember His faithfulness in our lives. We need to think of all the times He’s come through for us before, and as we do that we’ll find our hope rising that He’ll do it again. Secondly, we need to believe that His promises to us are true. We need to trust that these promises will be fulfilled, and that God is working on them right now. When we have that hope in our lives, it’s like an anchor for our souls (take a look at Hebrews 6:19). This anchor keeps our souls firmly held in hope, rather than despair. 

What Now?

Build up your hope today. Write a list of all the times God’s been faithful to you in the past, and then write down some of God’s promises to you.