Key Word: Hope (1) Hope is Oxygen for the Soul

A little sunshine, a little water and a little oxygen—and the flower grows. Sometimes it needs only a little soil and a small seed for a beautiful flower to rise from the ground and beautify the world just a little bit more.

What is true of a flower in nature, is true for hope in our lives. Hope is the oxygen for the soul. Without hope our soul cannot survive, just as a plant can’t flourish without oxygen. Hope is the oxygen for the soul. We need oxygen. We need hope.

What is Hope?

Hope is the eager expectation that something good will happen in the near future. It inspires us to strive for a better tomorrow after a painful yesterday. Hope gives us the courage to try again after things go wrong and to look for a new beginning after life’s failures came crushing in. Hope is like a farmer sowing more seed after a failed harvest. It aspires to make things better again and doesn’t give up. Hope has the power to rise from the ashes.

‘Weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning.’ Psalm 30:5b

After the rain comes the sunshine. After the weeping comes the joy. After the pain comes the healing. Tough times and suffering are part of life, but hope makes all the difference. It gives us strength to endure and keeps us from falling into despair. Martin Luther King sought to hew ‘a stone of hope’ from ‘the mountain of despair’—and he succeeded! King inspired many to rise above their current circumstances into a better future with justice, peace and prosperity. Remember, your present is not your final destination; it’s your departure point into a better future. Whatever ‘mountain of despair’ might be in front of you, seek ways to hew out ‘stones of hope.’ Even small ‘stones of hope’ can energise your soul and feed it with the oxygen of hope.

When the soul of the psalmist was cast down and feelings of despair plagued him, he told his soul to ‘hope in God’ for help comes from His presence (Psalm 42:5, 11). The hope God provides was oxygen for his soul to ‘praise Him’ yet again. There is strength in praising God. Never stop praising Him. Never lose hope. Yet there were times that the ‘oppression of the enemy’ was too much and the sadness it caused was difficult to bear. Those who added insult to injury mockingly asked, ‘Where is your God?’ (vv 9–10) Tears were his food ‘day and night,’ and they scorned him, ‘Where is your God?’ (v 3)

The psalmist found solace in his hope in God. His soul sought the ‘living God’ (v 2) for He is the living hope! His soul thirsted for God as a deer thirsts for water (v 1). God’s Spirit is the living water for the thirsty soul. God is the hope that satisfies our deepest needs. He is the ‘hope of Israel’ (Jeremiah 14:8; Acts 28:20), the hope of God’s people, in whom they should place their hope (Psalm 131:3) for He is merciful in His redemption (Psalm 130:7). God is faithful and therefore there is hope.

Despair is hopelessness. It’s the absence of hope. The oxygen for the soul is gone. But seeking God and finding hope in Him, fills our souls with hope like oxygen fills our lungs when we breathe. Hope is oxygen for the soul. We need the living God to inspire hope in our souls. When we call on the God of hope, He will show us ‘great and mighty things’ that we don’t yet know (Jeremiah 33:3). He will show us the future He planned for us, to give us ‘a future and a hope’ (Jeremiah 29:11). What eye hasn’t seen nor ear has heard, is what the Hope of our lives reveals to us by His Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:9–10).

This hope is the hope of the crucified Saviour (v 2). Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel inspired faith and hope in the hearers and they found eternal life and unfailing hope (vv 4–5). It was beyond human wisdom or natural eloquence. The Gospel is God’s word inspiring God’s hope for eternal life. Paul carried the hope of the Gospel and spread it everywhere as a fragrance of life and salvation (2 Corinthians 2:14–16). The Gospel of hope infused the believers with the Spirit of God. God’s Spirit is the breath of life. Hope comes alive in us. Through His Spirit we eagerly await the fulfilment of the hope God promised (Galatians 5:5). The God of hope fills us with abundant hope by the power of His Spirit (Romans 15:13). This is the divine hope that doesn’t disappoint (Romans 5:5).

True hope rests on the God of hope and knows that divine hope doesn’t disappoint.

Hope is oxygen for the soul.