Facing utterly hopeless situations does more to kill a person than 50 gunshots to the chest in the “‘hood.” Sure, getting ripped apart physically by hot lead is not fun; but you can still have hope that somebody will come and save you. But just imagine the 50 gunshots to your chest in the remoteness of a mountain, with nobody to hear, and nobody to traverse the terrain for your rescue, save the wolves and coyotes that smell your bloody flesh and wait to take part in nature’s call– now, that’s utterly hopeless. I know this scenario is overly dramatic and a bit implausible, but I want to impress upon you, a hopeless situation. A more melodramatic/real life hopeless situation would look like this: the days immediately following the loss of your love, whether through death, break up, infidelity or relocation. Perhaps it is the sudden loss of a job where you spent 50-60 hours toiling every week in an endless rat race. For others, it is the inability to have children or losing children. This list can continue into infinity. Situations are hopeless when they claw the insides of our heart, ripping apart the fabric of our souls. Worst of all, they leave us petrified to move in any direction except toward the impending bright light we see at the end of the tunnel. My point is that life is tragically a bridge between hopelessness and utter hopelessness on any given day. He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. – Romans 4:19-21 If life is so hopeless, why didn’t Abraham despair? Abraham, a man who utterly had no hope, had all the signs pointing to the fact that his life work would terminate with unfulfilled promises. It appeared that the very same God who called him out of his homeland may not come through for him. Regardless of all these pointers: Abraham’s faith became more resolved, illustrating to us that hope has nothing to do with the situations we find ourselves in; and rather, everything to do with whom we place that hope in. Therefore when Abraham looked at his own body, or the fact that him and his wife had been trying for a better part of the century to have a child, he saw no reason to give up any hope. The only hope Abraham needed was in God. God made the promise to him and so he had to hope God would fulfill His promise. That is exactly what Abraham did. Some of us may be looking at our lives and questioning the very idea of having any more hope for this year. I mean, it’s June, and any resolution you may have had is probably an afterthought by now. Despite all your toiling this year, everything you once planned has now been stripped away. You have no money, but lots of debt; no family, but mouths to feed; academic degrees, but no job; lots of sin, but no grace. Your situation may be hopeless. But when we place our faith in Jesus’ redemptive work, it is the only reason for any and all hope despite having no reason to hope. There’s still six months left in this year, it’s time to redeem that hope in Jesus and live hopefully in the hopeless world.