Hope in Hard Places (Stories of Hope Series)

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The following are my  Bible study notes based on my pastor's sermon titled Hope in Hard Places.

Hope in Hard Places

Open up your Bible!  The scriptures give us hope and encouragement.

As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God. 
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God;
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food day and night,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” 
These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me.
For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God,
With the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival.

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me?
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence.
O my God, my soul is in despair within me;
Therefore I remember You from the land of the Jordan
And the peaks of Hermon, from Mount Mizar.
Deep calls to deep at the sound of Your waterfalls;
All Your breakers and Your waves have rolled over me.
The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime;
And His song will be with me in the night,
A prayer to the God of my life.

I will say to God my rock, “Why have You forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me,
While they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
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. - Psalm 42

They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” - Luke 24:32

For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. - Romans 15:4

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. - Romans 15:13

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 God's Word provides hope.  Pray the scriptures.    

We tend to believe the following lies: 

1.  What is happening to me is personal.  We tend to think we are the only ones facing a challenge.  No one is living a perfect life.  You are not alone.

2.  What is happening to me is pervasive.  We feel like our whole life is messed up.  

3.  What is happening to me is permanent.  We feel like our current circumstances will last forever.  

Those are all lies.
  
How did the psalmist combat those lies?

Learn today that we can have hope in the hardest places.

As a shattering of my bones, my adversaries revile me, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” - Psalm 42:10

People might say to us, "Where is your God now?"  Satan says that to us.

My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” - Psalm 42:3

The psalmist was torn up on the inside. 

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me? 

Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence. - Psalm 42:5

The psalmist indicates that he is not praising God in his current time, but that he knows he will praise Him again.

The psalmist did not question God's love for him even though he felt he had been abandoned. 

The Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime; and His song will be with me in the night, a prayer to the God of my life. - Psalm 42:8

1.  He sang to God.  

When you are in a hard place, expose yourself to Godly music.    

2.  He preached hope to his heart.   

Why are you in despair, O my soul?
And why have you become disturbed within me? 
Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him
For the help of His presence. - Psalm 42:5

3.  Gather with others for worship.

These things I remember and I pour out my soul within me. For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God, with the voice of joy and thanksgiving, a multitude keeping festival. - Psalm 42:4

 4.  The psalmist does not ask for an escape from his circumstances.  He asks for a thirst for God instead.  

It is in the hard place that we learn to have a prayer place and a worship place.

Never doubt God's love, even in a hard place.

There is never a hard place that separates you from the love of God.

When you don't know what to do, do what you know.

Be in the Bible.  Go to church.  Attend Bible Fellowship classes.

A change in circumstances is not my greatest need.  Knowing God is my greatest need.

The eye has not seen nor has the ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man all that God has prepared for those who love Him. - 1 Corinthians 2:9

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Our hope was never in this life.  Our hope is in eternity.