My Hope is Built on… 

December 1, 2024 

Have you ever been inspired by someone’s faith? Do you know someone who shows incredible faith, even when they are going through great difficulties? Do you ever think, I’d like to be like that! 

One of the longest stories in the Bible, is story of Joseph. This is not Jesus earthly father. This is Joseph in the Old Testament, Joseph with a coat of many colors. Joseph had one good thing happen to him: he had 11 brothers, and one sister, but he was his father’s favorite. And because he was, his father gave him a beautiful, multicolor robe.  

The thing is, after that bright spot, terrible things happened. His brothers were jealous and planned to kill him. They ended up selling him. Joseph was taken to Egypt, but God was with him. In Egypt his boss recognized he was a great, hardworking guy. Until Joseph was wrongfully thrown in jail for 15 years! The amazing thing is, Joseph continued to trust God. He didn’t give up hope. His faith was not fragile. It was strong and firmly rooted in God! 

How do you get hope like that? Hope that always trusts God, persistent faith despite circumstances? 

Because the circumstances of our life can attack our hope, and erase our faith, when bad things happen to us, like Joseph being in prison for 15 years. Or tragedy happens like someone close to you dies, or a relationship leaves you heartbroken. You pray to God for help on Tuesday. And you’ll give God maybe Wednesday to work on things. But by Thursday, you’re thinking God you had better come through today! Can you imagine Joseph waiting 15 years? 

Our faith is shaky if we are looking for God to quickly turn our problems into smooth sailing. Because really, there are struggles in everyone’s life. And if you think God has to give you what you want every time in order for you to have faith, is that really faith?  

At any moment, of those 15 years in prison, Joseph could have given up. But he didn’t. His hope was not in a speedy God. His hope was not in an easy, comfortable life. His hope was built on something else. Because of what his faith and hope was built on, he persevered to a better day, when he got out of prison. He had faith in God and did his best and eventually made it to an even better day where he saw his brothers again, and they apologized to him. He was finally able to see his father and he took care of his family, so they didn’t starve. Joseph was a person of great faith! 

For many of us, me included, we come to faith in God, because we have an experience of God. We feel like, God met me. God was there for me. I came to faith when I was about 7. Because when I prayed, I felt that God answered my prayers. It was not always exactly as I expected, but something happened. I felt God loved me. Maybe it was only a handful of prayers answered, but God came through. I knew God was real and God was good. 

It is great that God is there for us. That is how many of us come to faith, because of those moments when God becomes real, when we experience his love.  

But it’s a problem if our faith depends on God always showing up the way He did in the past. You know, God answered prayers when I was 7. But in the years since, God doesn’t always answer my prayers. Sometimes it takes years until God answers. And sometimes, what I pray for does not happen. Ever. Sometimes God is silent. 

We might come to faith because of something amazing God has done. But our faith can’t stay there. Because Jesus didn’t promise life would be easy, that we’d all be millionaires and everything we hoped for would work out for us. No, Jesus said, in this world you will have trouble. But take heart. I have overcome the world. He says, take heart. Have faith and hope in me. Even if everything is going wrong. I have overcome the world. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus. 

So often, we are bad at interpreting our circumstances and understanding why things happen in our lives. I think about my kids. When they were little, there were times they thought I was awful! I wasn’t acting like a mom should. I took them to the doctor where they got a shot! It hurt! I was mean! There was one little neighbor boy who had a name for me when he was a toddler: Maureen was too hard. He called me “Mean!” And sometimes a parent can seem mean: taking a kid for a shot. But in the end, the shot is for good, it makes the kid healthy! Sometimes pain is good for us! God doesn’t always answer prayer. Sometimes that’s for the best: we learn so much more from disappointment than we do from success. 

But when life goes great, and it is just awesome: that can be a problem for your faith too. You start to think, I don’t want to go to church and hear about taking up your cross and suffering. What a downer! Faith starts to seem inconvenient. Why bother? I got it going on. I like all the stuff I can buy. I definitely don’t want to give money to God or to help other people. My life is so good, I don’t need God.  

It’s so important to realize what our faith is resting on. What’s the foundation of our belief? In Matthew 7 Jesus said if you listen to me and do what I say, you’ll be like a wise man who built his house on a rock. When disaster struck, flooding and winds came and beat the house, the house didn’t fall. It stood firm because it had a solid foundation! And Jesus said, don’t be like a foolish man, someone who doesn’t listen to me, who builds their house on sand. When disaster comes, their house falls. If we want a strong faith and a certain hope, we can’t base our faith on our circumstances. That’s foolish! Our circumstances are like shifting sand, they keep changing. God’s love never changes. 

I’m so grateful that I don’t have to base my faith on shifting sand. Christianity is not based on answered prayer, or the ability to make the world make sense, and our faith is not just an amazing moment with God.  

Instead, Christianity is based on a person: Jesus! Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus! 

Faith is confidence in Jesus, that he is who he says he is, and he will do what he says he will do. But faith is also confidence, that if he says no, he’s still God. Faith in Jesus is a firm foundation we can live our lives on. Jesus is a savior we can follow with confidence; he loves us, and he is the way and the truth and the life. 

Hebrews in the Bible is a letter written Maybe 63 or 64 A.D. Some in the congregation the letter was written to were beginning to doubt Jesus is the Messiah. For them life might be more difficult if they follow Jesus. They might be persecuted. Some of them were having second thoughts. Hebrews was written to encourage them: don’t give up on your faith just because of your circumstances. They were people like us, affected by our circumstances. The letter says, don’t make your faith depend on special moments with God, like God speaking from a burning bush, or you get an answer to every prayer. Then the writer gives us the foundation of our faith.   

Hebrews 4:14 says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.”  

He’s saying, we have Jesus, who came to earth for us, died on the cross, then rose from the dead, went to be with the Father and now is in heaven. Therefore, he says, “Let us hold firmly to the faith we confess.” 

The writer is telling the congregation, Life’s tough, there are people who might tear down your faith. Don’t quit believing, because we have in history a person, Jesus, who lived like us, performed miracles, died, rose, and reconciled us with God. We have a person to believe in, we have a relationship with Jesus. Someone who won’t always answer prayer but will always offer mercy and grace to us in time of need. Let us draw near to him with confidence! Because a strong faith and hope is built on nothing less than Jesus! 

My homework for you this week is to pray this prayer: “God, I trust you today.”  

We probably all know inspiring people who have unbelievable faith in God. Whatever the day or year brings, they’re sticking with Jesus. They’ve set their faith on solid rock, on the foundation of Jesus. God never intended for us to rest our faith on what’s going on around us. That would be a fragile faith. Our faith and hope can rest secure in Jesus. And when he is the foundation, our faith is strong and will endure, so we can persevere to the better day God has planned for us! Amen.