Fighting to Hope

by Tiffany Davis (REST Academy Coordinator)

2020 is covered by a dark cloud of hopelessness. A cloud that threatens to suffocate us. A cloud that shows no signs of dissipating.

This overwhelming presence of hopelessness continues to creep toward us and pound on the door to our mind, body, and soul wanting us to give up and let it come pouring in.   

Some days it’s easy to fight off hopelessness, but others it takes every ounce of strength to not give in.

As a Christian, struggling with hopelessness can be taboo to discuss and even if given the space to talk, it is often met with an arsenal of Bible verses and memorized phrases we’ve been taught to use to combat waning hope. These verses and words are meant to strengthen and encourage, but they often do little more than place a small bandage on a gaping wound. It’s not because there isn’t power in God’s word, but because we often trivialize it.

Our friends and family mean well when they attempt to encourage us with verses like Jeremiah 29:11 that says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” I mean, it even uses the word hope! That should give us hope then, right?

It can and it may in the moment, but we’re missing a major component of God’s promise here. He’s not saying that everything is going to be happy-go-lucky or that things will be easy.

This promise of a future and a hope are to God’s people that he sent to exile in Babylon. These people were driven from their homes and became refugees where they found themselves at the mercy of a godless king and country. Through Jeremiah, God tells his people to continue to live their lives in exile and to pray for the place they have been exiled to. Then, in his perfect timing, he will fulfill his promise and bring them back home. That’s when he speaks the famous words of Jeremiah 29:11, which is followed by God’s directive that his people will then seek him and find him when they seek with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:12-14).

Do you see what’s happening here? Our hope isn’t something we gain passively that God tosses over to us. Our hope is found in God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, but we also must actively pursue him.

Defending our hope requires us to fight, and as we do, God will hear us, strengthen us, and fight for and with us.

In some of the darkest, most hopeless moments of my life, I have clung to the words of King David in Psalm 144:1-2:

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle; he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me.”

It’s a reminder that although I have to fight, I am not alone. God is with me, he protects me, and in him I can find refuge and deliverance. This knowledge was life changing because it removed the crushing burden of hopelessness from my shoulders.

Without my faith in the creator of the universe—the good, just, merciful, all-knowing, loving God—I wouldn’t be able to swim through and walk out of the sea of hopelessness that surrounds me.

Moreover, it’s my faith coupled with the knowledge that despite unfathomable evil and injustices and overwhelming opportunities to give into hopelessness, God is faithful.

With him I’ll always have enough light to find my way out, no matter how dark it gets, and I am able to hold tight to that hope even when all I feel like doing is putting my head in my hands and crying. 

—By Tiffany Davis

Tiffany grew up in Idaho and loves the quiet of the country. She is Mexican-American and loved growing up in a mixed family. She has travelled the world, mainly for missions but also for fun. She loves the fall and a good road trip, and she currently lives in Seattle, WA with her puppers. Tiffany's bachelor's is in Business Administration and she has a master's in International Community Development. Her life goal is that when she dies her legacy will be that she loved others deeply and stood up against injustices.