The Inward Battle for Proper Placement of Hope

Faced with extreme adversity, Job’s hope begins to faulter:

Job 6:11-13 NASB ““What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should endure? Is my strength the strength of stones, Or is my flesh bronze? Is it that my help is not within me, And that deliverance is driven from me?”

Job seemingly lost everything and was despairing of life. He looks around himself and sees no hope. He sees an utter lack of strength within himself. He for now is struggling to place his hope in God. Later, Job declares that God Himself is the one who is actively tearing down those things in which in placed hope. In his words, “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree” (Job 19:10 NASB).

The psalmist, like Job, knew what it meant to face trying times and the depression that can so easily engulf a person. In such difficulties, the psalmist says that one must make the choice to place hope in God alone: “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence (Ps 42:5 NASB). With this in view, being downcast and allowing hopelessness to overtake you means that you are failing to place your hope in God.

Job’s persistence and ultimate vindication by God proves that Job’s hope in the Lord was real and yet it was still clouded by worldly entanglements that some semblance of false hope. God’s desire for Job was to be his one true and only hope. For a moment though, Job’s strength was dissipating as he began to let go of worldly hopes. Afterwards, his strength returned as he finally learned to place his hope only in God.