DAY 28 — The Need for Hope

Hope isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity (Thirst-Quenching Essential #9). Psychologists tell us that hope is what keeps us moving forward in adversity, gives us motivation to change, and sustains our mental health. When people lose hope, despair takes its place. And despair is deadly. It isolates, disconnects, and eats away at a person’s sense of meaning. Scripture agrees:

“Where there is no vision, the people perish.” —Proverbs 29:18 KJV

Maybe you’ve seen this play out in someone you love. Maybe you’ve felt it yourself—those seasons where the future seems like a closed door, and even getting out of bed feels like too much. Hopelessness drains survival rates, erodes health, and convinces us we are alone.

But here’s the good news: Paul doesn’t pray that we’d “try harder to stay positive.” He points us to the God of hope—the source. The One who can fill us until we overflow, not just squeak by.

Hope isn’t a personality trait—it’s a Person.

The Bible is filled with examples:

• Hannah, who poured out her soul in bitterness and wept before the Lord (1 Samuel 1). Out of despair, she cried for what seemed impossible. God met her in that place and gave her hope beyond her grief.
• David, who often wrote from caves and battlefields, yet again and again declared: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? … Put your hope in God," (Psalm 42:5 NIV). He teaches us that hope is chosen, even when circumstances haven’t changed.
• Job, who after losing nearly everything, could still say: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him." —Job 13:15 NIV
• The psalmist, who declared, “For in You, O Lord, I hope; You will answer.” —Psalm 38:15 AMP

And then there are more contemporary witnesses. One of my favorites is Horatio Spafford, the Chicago businessman who lost his children in a tragic shipwreck in 1873. As he sailed over the place where their ship went down, he penned the hymn we now know as It Is Well with My Soul. Out of unimaginable grief, hope in Christ anchored him. Not because the pain disappeared, but because he believed the God of hope was still holding him.

Hope doesn’t erase the darkness, but it gives you something stronger to hold on to in the middle of it: Christ Himself.

Drink Deep

Where does life feel hopeless right now? Instead of trying to muster optimism, pray Romans 15:13 aloud, asking the God of hope to fill you until you overflow with His Spirit’s supply.