Many years ago a scientist did an experiment on rats by placing some rats directly in water. As you might expect, they soon drowned. With other rats, however, he would take them out of the water before they actually died. Because this set of rats realized that they could possibly be pulled out of the water, they were willing to swim longer than rats who were never given any hope of being taken out of the water. This small sliver of hope that they could be rescued gave the second set of rats the will to continue swimming. This is much different than the first set of rats that had no reason to believe that they could be rescued.
Hope is a powerful thing. Chuck Swindoll says in his book Hope Again, “Webster defines hope as: Desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment…to desire with expectation of obtainment…to expect with confidence. How vital is that expectation! Without it, prisoners of war languish and die. Without it, students get discouraged and drop out of school. Without it, athletic teams fall into a slump and continue to lose…fledgling writers, longing to be published, run out of determination…addicts return to their habits…marriage partners decide to divorce…inventors, artists, entertainers, entrepreneurs, even preachers, lose their creativity.
• When we are trapped in a tunnel of misery, hope points to the light at the end of the tunnel.
• When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
• When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
• When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
• When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future.
• When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we’re not alone…we’ll make it.
• When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief.
• When we are discouraged, hope lifts our spirits.
• When we are tempted to quit, hope keeps us going.
• When we struggle with a crippling disease or a lingering illness, hope helps us persevere beyond the pain.
• When we find ourselves unemployed, hope tells us we still have a future.
• When we feel rejected and abandoned, hope reminds us we’re not alone…we’ll make it.
• When we say our final farewell to someone we love, hope in the life beyond gets us through our grief.
Put simply, when life hurts and dreams fade, nothing helps like hope.”
Hope gives us reason to believe that there is joy ahead. As Romans, 15:13 says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
May Calhoun Community Church overflow with HOPE.
