A Horse Called Hope

By Richard Spangler

Those of us who watched Superbowl 2013, may remember the advertisement with a Clydesdale foal. The story was about a man who raised a foal. He bottle-fed it, slept with the foal when it became sick, and played with and trained it. The man and the young horse bonded. Then one day a company truck came and took the horse away. The man missed his companion.

Three years later the man goes to a parade and the Clydesdales go by. The horse sees the man and as soon as he is free of the carriage, charges off and the man and his horse are reunited. The company asked people to help name the foal seen in the first part of the commercial. Well after more than 60,000 tweets and Facebook comments, "Hope" was one of the most popular names; so the horse is named Hope.

This led to a simple and true realization that people are looking for hope. This is the heartcry of those who submitted the name "Hope" whether they realize it or not.

A constant drumbeat of negativity is tearing individuals down. People are losing or have lost hope. We see this in the "I don't care", "What's the use", "Nothing will ever change" attitudes gripping our world today. People are giving up, losing faith and losing hope. Some are killing themselves, their families and others because they see no hope for the future.

We as believers can also lose hope. I have lost hope from time to time. There have been times in my life when the circumstances of life have caused me to say, "What's the use? I give up. Nothing's going to change." And yes I have prayed, "Lord, take me home." This has occurred in my life when I lost sight of God and I let circumstances draw me away from my relationship with God.

But, there is hope! The Bible states, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13 (NIV)

God is a God of hope. He wants each of us hope in Him. Many say, "I have been lied to so many times. Promises have not been kept. Why should I hope? Why should I believe?" God is not human and does not lie, He keeps His promises.

"God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" Numbers 23:19 (NIV)

"In the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the beginning of time," Titus 1:2 (NIV).

We as believers must continue to place our hope in God, Our Father, in spite of the circumstances we see around us. This is not always easy, but we must set our minds and hearts on Him. If you trust His timetable and that God loves you, knows what you are going through and will keep His promises, He will restore your hope.

What about those who live in the world and do not know these truths? They do not understand that God loves them, that He is Hope and that He keeps His promises. We, as believers know these truths and we have the responsibility to tell those who are hopeless, "There is hope." We must be willing in these times to stand up and say, "There is a hope and that hope is in Jesus Christ."

This hope is not just for the sweet by and by or when we all get to heaven; but it is for the nasty here and now. God is Hope and He is willing to give Himself to you if you are willing to receive Him.