In the Bible, 'hope' is a special word which means 'the confident expectation that God will do what He has promised’.  This is especially true about the certain coming again of Jesus (Titus 2:13), and our confidence that we will be acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (Ephesians 1:6).  Without this hope as an anchor for our souls (Hebrews 6:19), we would be pulled off track by life's many uncertainties and tests.  The Lord has promised to lead us in safety, even though the devil will tempt us and we sometimes fail Him: but the outcome of the believer's relationship with God is assured (2 Timothy 1:12).

The Scriptures help us as we see how the prophets and apostles were ill-treated (Luke 11:49); yet they persevered because they believed God's promises (James 5:10-11). The Lord Jesus Christ also suffered but did not shrink back, because He trusted Father God (Isaiah 50:7): He was fully validated at the resurrection.  In the same way, our faith will be fully validated when Jesus comes again and we are raised from death with new bodies (Job 19:26).  Until then, our job is to please our Master, serving others for His sake, and not ourselves, even though we may suffer in the process (Philippians 1:29).  

Without the Bible narrative of how God sustains His people through suffering, we might give up (Hebrews 12:3).  But knowing the way in which God vindicates His servants, we can and must press on to the end.  Hebrews 11:32-40 is breath-taking in its review of people who trusted God’s Word and persevered.  In the same way, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13 is a potent warning from Biblical history of God’s catastrophic anger against those who despise God’s graciousness and go their own way.

If we rely on our own, or other people’s, personal experience alone, we may either live in confidence or despair as we face fresh uncertainties.  But at the heart of God's Word are His promises of salvation, forgiveness, protection, guidance, strength and wisdom.  We see all of these worked out in the Bible's accounts of men and women of faith.  What God promised them, He fulfilled.  And so we may have great hope that God will also fulfil His promises for us also, because He is unchanging.  That is one of the great reasons to read the Scriptures ... so that we may live each day with confidence in His promises.  Let us renew our commitment to reading and obeying His Word, for our own sake, the sake of others and of His Kingdom and glory.