One Sunday morning during worship, I asked the Lord what was wrong with the people as worship was dull and non-effective. The worship team worked hard to move the people’s hearts and to prepare a way for the Lord, but only to a little success and at times no avail. The room was dry, weary, and routine. Most of them waited for a song to move them instead of the praise for the Savior. Every person in the room could feel that the air in the room was cold and the hearts of the people were filled with desires to know the Lord but no hope to see him come. It was the atmosphere that drove me to ask the Lord what is wrong in this room? The Lord answered and said, “displaced hope.” Displaced means to take over the place, position, or role of something or someone. To move from a proper position, taking the place of something else.
Many of us have our hope in other things or other people except God. And because we have committed and submitted ourselves to these things and people, we find it hard to praise God. The pull for praise and worship to the Lord proves that our hope lies elsewhere. Many of us are disappointed by the displaced hope. We have placed our hope in our jobs, family, and friends, and when our expectations of them isn’t met we live with regret and often time blame God. Our hope in God is a sure thing. When we put our hope in God, we experience his goodness and his unfailing love.” “And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” (Romans 5:5). Life can become complicated, and the garment of heaviness will weigh upon us when our hope is displaced. It is important to have our hope in the one that will not disappoint us and know exactly what we need and when we need it. Having hope in the Lord will cause you to walk in faith and we know that faith is what pleases God. It will cause those things that are unseen to be seen. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for but the evidence of things unseen. (Hebrews 11:1). We have allowed our hope to be placed in temporary things that are fading away instead of putting our hope in the King of kings and the Lord of lords that will never leave us nor forsaken us. And for us as people it is imperative that we put our hope in the one that is unchanging. (Hebrews 13:5-8) Times and circumstances are constantly changing mostly causing an imbalance in our lives because of our displaced hope. Hope outside of the very one that created us and sustains us will cause us breakdown, disappointment and discouragement every time. When we put our hope in Jesus Christ we have crossed over from death into life. A life that comes with promises and guarantees because he who called you is faithful, and he is not like man that he shall lie or the son of man that he shall repent. (Number 23:19).
Today, let’s evaluate where we have placed our hope. Is your hope for something or someone that is not promising? Putting our hope in God will always leave us full and never empty. Everything else will dry up and fade away. And having false hope is like having no hope at all, wishful thinking is not hope. So let’s placed our hope in God and trust his Word. “The grass will wither and the flowers will fade but the word of the Lord shall stand forever.” (Isaiah 40:8).
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