The Catalyst

There is a saying I keep hearing people say, "Hope is not a plan." Hope, alone, may not be a plan, but it is part of a plan, because it is part of faith. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for," (Hebrews 11:1). Hope must precede faith. If faith is the substance of things hoped for, then hope sets the plan in motion. Hope is the catalyst.

Did you ever see somebody whose life was falling apart around them and their answer to it all was, "Que Sera, Sera; whatever will be, will be," or, "Come what may." Now that is not a plan. People who say those things are washing their hands of the situation and are refusing to take responsibility for the outcome.

That's not how God wants His children to respond to situations. He wants us to get on our knees and fight. He wants us to open His Word and find promises. He wants us to reach out to His other kids to have them stand with us and to comfort us. He wants us to find hope in Him. What is hope, then? Hope is "to trust, have confidence, be secure," (batach). It is also, "joyful and confident expectation," (elpis). "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us," (Romans 5:5). Hope does not disappoint, because when you put God behind anything you have your plan. This is not the same as "back-loading" God. You cannot have your plan, put it into motion, and then ask God to bless it.

We have been told, "You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures," (James 4:2-3). God does everything so that He will get the glory. For His glory, He set Noah to building an ark, gave Elizabeth a child in her old age, and called Paul to spread the Gospel. When you look at the desires of your heart, the things you are hoping for, ask yourself if they will bring glory to God or to you.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and hope does not disappoint when God is behind it.