First Week of Advent - 2025

Week 1 | Holding Out Hope | Romans 4:16-21

Hoping against hope is characterized by the contradictory nature of living in hope. We are forced to wrestle with our own inability to accomplish ultimate things and our deep need for God to act on our behalf. When everything seems impossible, only hope can sustain us. Only hope can conquer despair.

December 1 • Holding Out Hope

Hold out hope. Even if all is lost, if the way back seems too hard, if the sacrifice feels like too much, there is still hope. Hope is the assurance that you will never be completely alone. Hope is acknowledging that there is a force outside of you, greater than you, working for you. 

What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? [Job 6:11] Hope will not let us give up. Even when all is lost, hope is not. When you wish for the pain to go away, hope holds the pain closer. When it feels like the suffering is destroying you, maybe it is just destroying false hope. Full trust begins when false hopes die, when we hope against hope.

Pride can finally crumble when we are completely broken. Anger or revenge will not protect us at our lowest moments. When there is nothing left in you, you have to hold onto something outside of you. And you have something to hold when you have nothing else left. God has made a promise, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” [Hebrews 13:5] 

We do not get to determine everything that comes into our lives, but we do get to determine if we will live in hope. Tragedy and hardship will be part of the journey, but they are not the end of it. There will be pain, failure, emptiness, and desperation. But there will always be hope. So, hold on.

December 2 • A Way Forward

There is a way forward. No matter what you are facing, there is a way forward. Your pain is not the end. Your failure is not final. You are not finished. God is not finished. The journey toward real hope begins at the end of yourself, when you’ve tried so many other things, and nothing has worked. 

Giving up is a tempting choice when we can no longer see ourselves on the other side of our current circumstance. Like a hundred-year-old man living by hope that a child will someday come, hopelessness can consume all other joy and leave us questioning everything. Holding on any longer feels stupid. This is the moment where hope is tested. 

Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off. [Proverbs 23:18] Your hope is not dependent on you. Your hope is centered in the God who is not dependent on you. Your hope is built on the continual care that God provides and has provided since time began. The first step forward is trusting God to show you the next step.

Hope refuses to let your imagination die, because with God, all things are possible. [Matthew 19:26] There is always a way forward. It might not be easy or comfortable. You might have to deal with things you have been avoiding. You will have to work through your issues. But what seems impossible now becomes easier when we are willing to cry out, O God, listen to my prayer; from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I am. [Psalm 61:1-2] 

December 3 • Getting Through 

Hope wires our mind and orients us toward the future.  Hope gives strength and guides actions. Hope is what you need to take another step. We put our hope in many things: money, status, relationships. We can make it far on the strength of our mind, body, and will, but the time will come when we clearly see that our souls cannot rest in our strength. 

Things change. Today you are happy; tomorrow you are sad. Today, you are confident, but the words or actions of someone else wreak havoc. If hope is to sustain you, it must be built on something stronger than you. No matter how great or important or powerful something is, everything in this world is doomed to destruction and decay. Everything changes. Everything comes to ruin. Except for One. “I the Lord do not change. Therefore you are not destroyed.” [Malachi 3]

As you go through difficulties, consider that God might be chipping away at all your half-hearted hopes. As you get more disillusioned with people, institutions, or yourself, take a moment to dwell on what this is doing to your mental framework of the future. Your suffering could lead you to despair. Or it could lead you to a more real and authentic hope. It may not seem like it, but God is providing for you and even protecting you as you face hardship and pain. You will get through this. Be patient. Pray. And wait on the One who doesn’t change. 

“Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather. And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in you.” [Psalm 39:6-7]

December 4 • Holding Onto Hurt

There are benefits to holding onto the hurt others have caused us. We can justify our bad intentions and wallow in self-pity. But clinging to our pain only makes the wound worse. Take a step back from yourself and ask why you’re doing this. What are you gaining from living in this place, other than unnecessary bitterness and despair? Ask yourself this: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.  [Psalm 42:5]

 We are not meant to live in hurt, but hope. Feeling like we’re drowning is part of learning to swim. But that doesn’t mean we should keep our souls submerged till they ache. We are made to move and breathe. It isn’t worth trading your peace and your purpose for an excuse to act however you want. 

 Take responsibility for your soul. Question what is going on in your heart. Find where you are relying on past pains to justify your current situation. Our souls need to abide somewhere. And we have an invitation for real peace and a holy place: abide in me, and I will abide in you. [John 15:4] Abide with Jesus and not excuses. Peace and wholeness can be ours if we are willing to let go of our hurt and restlessness. 

 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? [Psalm 42:1-2] Your faith is more than your feelings. Your soul is more than your sadness. Do the difficult work today and refuse to miss out on the good things that are coming.  

December 5 • Blaming God

Blaming God makes sense. If God is in control and knows everything, then God could have kept us away from all the bad things. Yet we experience evil, sickness, despair, and darkness. We can find some faults in ourselves and others, but God can do anything- so the struggle and the suffering could have been avoided if God wanted to, right? This trouble is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? [2 Kings 6:33] 

 When we blame God, we acknowledge God’s power, even if we fail to see God’s plan and purpose. Even Jesus, from the cross, laid his complaint at God’s feet: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” [Matthew 27:46] But as he died, he demonstrated that his prayer was one of trust and acceptance of God’s purposes. “Into your hands I commit my spirit.” [Luke 23:46] Jesus took the blame and paid the ultimate price. And because of that, we have the assurance that we will never be left alone, that God always has a purpose. “I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a future and hope.” [Jeremiah 29:11]

 This is a time for prayer. A time to seek understanding. To grow. To be sustained. This is a time to trust that no matter what it is you’re facing, God has a purpose and a future through it. Evening, morning, and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and God hears my voice… Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; God will never permit the righteous to be moved. [Psalm 55:22]

 December 6 • Prisoners of Hope

Choosing to live in hope is like a prison: there is no way out once inside. You refuse to quit, because you know there is more after this. You will not give up, because you are certain there is another chapter. You are held captive by something much stronger, firmer. You are convicted by the reality you know to be true. Hope is a lifelong sentence of persevering.

 There are many exits from a hopeless life. People turn to addictions, substances, self-harm, and meaninglessness. We can be tempted to escape our pain. But these escapes end up being worse prisons, trapping us in guilt, shame, and regret. There is a way through. There is more than our current experience. It is not easy but bind yourself to hope. Though God slay me, yet I will hope in him. [Job 13:15]

 Hope is found in holding together the promises of God with the disparate experiences of life. Hope undergirds our existence and holds us up when nothing else can. Jesus defeated the power of death by going through death. He came out the other side victorious. And Jesus has left the prison doors of hope open. Not that you should escape, but that those who are breaking free from all other prisons have a real refuge in a cruel world. Paul stayed in prison so that the jailer could escape the prison of hopelessness. Daniel did not fight his way out of the lions’ den because he knew there was another lion, seeking to devour the soul of his king and country. The young men submitted themselves to the flames because they knew there was a fire that could sear their souls and not merely their flesh. 

 Don’t be afraid of the prison of hope. There is Life beyond suffering, and there is existence beyond the grave. You know there is a blessing to be found when you carry the burden. Choose to stay in this prison, because you are showing others the way that can set them free. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope! [Zechariah 9:12]