In this episode, I share more about how this truth has played out in my own life — and the steps you can take to make it real in yours.
When My Life Looked Hopeless
When I became a Christian in my early 20s, I had been married for two years.
I would remain married for another 7.5 years.
👉🏻 During that period, my only hope was in God due to my very, very challenging circumstances.
My ex-husband was extremely manipulative – as well as emotionally and verbally abusive.
😖 In addition, he operated in a way that kept life extremely uncertain:
He created consistent financial instability.
He kept life in a state of constant chaos.
He made it difficult to achieve my own goals.
Life felt hopeless. My efforts never resulted in much success or change.
✝️ Yet God sustained me during this very long and dark period when my circumstances said, “There’s no hope to be found here.”
My hope wasn’t in my situation, or other people, or my own efforts. My hope rested in God and His steady, loving presence.
True Hope Comes From God
I know that may sound radical, strange, or scary.
👉🏻 Yet it’s the biblical truth: Hope flows from who God is, not from our circumstances – no matter how bleak they are.
Also, our hope continues to grow as our relationship with God grows.
The Israelites are an example of this. As we read in Exodus Chapter 1, the Israelites became slaves to the Egyptian Pharaoh.
Verses 11-14 (NLT): “So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king. But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites multiplied and spread, and the more alarmed the Egyptians became. So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy. They made their lives bitter, forcing them to mix mortar and make bricks and do all the work in the fields. They were ruthless in all their demands.”
⚡ This was definitely a very dark and bleak situation.
Just look at the words that are used: slaves, brutal, worked without mercy, bitter lives, ruthless demands.
The Israelites:
Didn’t have a say in their situation or lives
Didn’t have a voice
Were surviving instead of thriving
Couldn’t build businesses or control their finances
Endured their babies being murdered (verse 15)
⛓️ There wasn’t anything the Israelites could do to change their circumstances.
🙏🏻 Their only hope was in God.
In Exodus 3:19-22 (NLT) God says this to Moses: “But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him. So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go. And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”
🌹 God saw His people’s situation and – in His love and goodness – had a plan to free them and ensure they started over with financial provision.
Starting in verse 7, God also tells Moses, “I have certainly seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their cries of distress because of their harsh slave drivers. Yes, I am aware of their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the power of the Egyptians and lead them out of Egypt into their own fertile and spacious land. It is a land flowing with milk and honey—the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites now live. Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached me, and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.”
🌴 God wasn’t just giving His people freedom from their circumstances, but a future. A new beginning. A new era.
From a human perspective, the situation was hopeless. But God isn’t limited by His creation – whether that’s the world, its systems, or its people.
Now, this doesn’t mean the Israelites fully understand God’s character at the time.
After all, they had been living as slaves for several hundred years, focused on surviving.
You can see this play out during their journey in the desert.
Despite the fact that God is clearly with them and has performed numerous miracles in order to free them, they’re still very focused on their circumstances – no water, being backed against the Red Sea with no escape route, etc.
💗 God wasn’t punishing or torturing them by allowing them to face these situations. He was teaching them how to hope in Him instead of their circumstances – however dire.
In His steadfast love, provision, and promises.
Need help leaning into true hope? Take the quiz What's Your First Step to Fully Experiencing God’s Love?
