Misplaced hope

"My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, 'Gone is my glory; and all that I had hoped for from the LORD.'"

(Lamentations 3:17-18)

HOPE! We all need it. Even (especially) people of faith. And we often hope in things we believe God can grant/give/bless us with. There's nothing wrong with that, of course. The Bible is full of passages of people bearing their souls to God. The book of Psalms is especially filled with those pleas! And Psalms doesn't seem to judge the cries of the heart (praise God!).

But just because we ask for something (even if we ask it in the most sincere faith), doesn't mean God has to (or will) grant it to us. Sometimes, that's a tough pill to swallow... especially for people of faith!

In Lamentations 3, the writer is bemoaning his/her present state. "Everything is awful!!!" appears to be the mantra. "My soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is..." We've all been there at times, haven't we? Even people of faith. Then the author remarks that "all I had hoped for from the LORD" was gone. Wow. How devastating.

But 6 verses later the writer, after calling to mind God's steadfast love, mercies, and faithfulness, says this: "The LORD is my portion... therefore I will hope in him." It may seem like a complete reversal from saying that he has nothing more to hope for in the Lord. But I see a HUGE difference. In 3:24, the writer has chosen to HOPE IN THE LORD. Gone are the THINGS that s/he had hoped for FROM GOD prior. Now hope is placed squarely in the Lord. Period.

As we go through life, we often have various hopes/dreams we'd like God to fulfill for us. Some of those may be very good hopes/dreams. But ultimately, our hope should be in God alone (not what we want from him). Then everything else will fall into place.