Hope Rooted in Knowledge and Understanding Stands Strong
World-changing hope is rooted in knowledge and understanding. If you don’t know what you know, then you can’t hope for what you don’t know (or know). It takes an investment in knowledge that’s molded into understanding to stand firm in hope.
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I saw a commercial when I was younger. The boy stares out the window, hoping for snow. Mom goes into the kitchen to fix him a cup of hot chocolate. As they sip their drinks, it starts to snow.
From that day on, I drank hot chocolate if there was a chance of snow in the forecast. I passed that on to my children.
But as I grew in my knowledge of weather and understanding of Southern snow, I understood the complex meteorological matters involved with snow development (okay, not so much understood the matters as I understood there were matters).
Although I do still drink hot chocolate when there is a chance of snow. It worked in the past, so I find no harm in trying. Besides, I get hot chocolate for the effort.
Hope requires knowledge and understanding.
I have to know what it is all about so I can stand firm in the outcome even before it arrives. Without a fundamental knowledge of hope, the wind and the storms toss me to and fro.
Growing up, I understood submission to be timid – or, to be blunter, being submissive meant being a doormat for others to walk over.
I was not a doormat. If anything, I stood up for anyone I thought was being treated like a doormat, whether it was my place or not.
My friend, Gene Hendrix, challenged me to know the Word better to understand submission better. That’s not exactly what he said. He simply told me that I could change more from within than I could from without, and to get within, I had to get in the Word.
Don’t tell him I said this, but he was right. The more I learned about submission from the Word, the more I understood the power of submission.
Knowledge and understanding provided the power.
Hope Rooted in Knowledge
- Hope in God, not in self. Psalm 146:5 declares hope in the Lord brings blessings to the man willing to have that focus. Jeremiah 18:12 warns there is no hope when you walk after your own devices (or walk out your own way).
- Hope in the Word, not in the world. Proverb 11:7 tells us that the hope of the unjust man focused on self will perish. But Proverb 10:28 promises that the hope of the righteous man (the one in right standing with God) will be gladness.
- Hope in the promise, not in the circumstances. Abraham believed in hope, despite his circumstances, and his hope led him to be the father of many nations, according to Romans 4:18.
It’s a learning process. You have to know the Word to understand the hope, because hope is rooted in knowledge and understanding of the Word.
Quote of the day
“Knowledge and understanding provided the power of Hope.”
– Kathryn Lang
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Did you miss yesterday’s Growing HOPE?
11-30-2020 Hope is Defined by Relationship with God
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