Hopeless situations test our faith. Here are five ways to stay hopeful against all hope.
We got the call last Sunday evening. My son-in-law’s father and three other scuba divers had disappeared that morning 50 miles offshore in North Carolina.
Check it out here: (https://www.today.com/video/four-missing-divers-rescued-after-17-hour-fight-for-survival-190843461944)
Little hope remained of finding them. The search and rescue convoy called it a “1 in 50 million chance to find them.”
We awakened the next morning to the joyous news. On the last pass of the night, a C-130 pilot spotted a flashing S-O-S out of the corner of his eye. They were rescued.
17 hours bobbing in 2-3 ft. seas. No hope. BUT GOD.
Never give up hope.
Maintain these principles when facing a hopeless situation:
Don’t look at the odds. Look at your God.
The odds were “1 in 50 million.” Vast miles of ocean to cover with time running out. The risk of a shark attack in heavily shark-infested waters.
“The odds” are pointless. They drain our hope. What odds were there that God would open the Red Sea and 2 million people cross on dry land?
Keep your eyes on God, not on odds.
2. Remember God’s past faithfulness.
What has God done for you in the past? He rescued my wife and I from malaria several times in the African jungle. He protected my wife when hit by a dump truck broadside.
Call to mind His former miracles and works in your life. The same God who rescued you before will rescue you again.
Leverage His past deliverances. Say out loud, “He did it before. He will do it again.”
3. Release God’s angels to work.
I do not doubt that God released angels to help that pilot spot a little flashlight on his last pass at 2:30 in the morning. Within minutes, they were in a lifeboat, and within a short time, a destroyer picked them up.
Angels rescued Peter the night before his execution. Angels stood between hungry lions and Daniel in a pit. One angel killed 185,000 of Israel’s enemies in one night.
Ask God to release the armies of heaven on your behalf.
4. Relax, and don’t get angry at God or others.
Our mouth tends to get really active when we sense no hope. We start blaming everyone: doctors, relatives, corporations, and even God.
Stay in your rest. Shut your mouth. Be still. Don’t let others provoke you to make big statements. “Stand still and see the salvation of God.”
When fear takes over, there truly is no hope.
5. Give God great glory when He does His work.
The four divers hugged their families on the shore when the headlines and the pictures broke the following day.
The “Today Show” did a story. Thousands covered the fantastic details of how they were separated from their scuba boat and pushed by the Gulf Stream over 20 miles further offshore
God got GREAT GLORY.
Hopeless?
That doesn’t mean anything to God.
I can’t wait to hear about your miracle, either.