005: Rising Up Again
Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today we are going to talk about the importance of hope in our lives.
All of us have experienced failure, and the impact of the fall is directly proportional to the height we have risen. Very often, those who reach the pinnacle of success believe they are untouchable, even though history should have taught us that no one stands so firmly he cannot fall. If you are one of these people who has fallen, take note of another lesson that history teaches us: no one has fallen so terribly that he cannot rise again.
Scripture is filled with stories about fallen heroes. It doesn't gloss over the failures of its superstars (even though we do) and tells it as it happened. So we read about the sinfulness of David and Samson who gave into their weakness for women; the cowardice of Abraham and Isaac who passed off their wives as their sisters so that the Egyptians wouldn't kill them; and the animosity between Paul and Barnabas that became so sharp they parted company. We read about how Jeremiah and Job cursed the day they were born, while Elijah and Jonah wished they were dead!
If you have ever wondered why these stories are in the Bible, it is to give us hope because hope is a powerful thing. The enemy tries to take that away from us because he knows it can destroy us. A working man will put all his energy into his job, hoping that his efforts will be noticed and he will be rewarded. Should he lose his job, his hope of getting a better one will sustain him. Take away that hope, and he will sit at home and despair. Take away his hope in life, and you would have succeeded in destroying him completely.
However, when we read Scripture and discover that Spirit-filled men have fallen, but have risen again, then we have the hope that so can we. As Paul attests: "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4). "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Romans 15:13).
Paul's wish for you is my wish for you too, my dear friend. However terrible your fall has been — from grace or whatever — know that tomorrow is a new day. And let your hope rise with the sun, knowing that you will soon shine as bright as it does one more time.
May the Spirit be with you.