The Jeff Cavins Show (Your Catholic Bible Study Podcast) - Hope in Desperate Times

Episode Date: March 15, 2018

We all desperately need hope in our lives, especially when we feel alone. Today, Jeff defines true hope, explains how you can walk in this hope, and describes the surprising difference between using the words “hope” and “hopefully.” Learn to stand on the hope God gave you as a foundation for your life. Discover how the very thing causing you despair and pain can become a door of hope for you. We’d Love to Hear from You Do you have comments or questions for Jeff? Use the comment box below, or email Jeff at [e-mail]. You may hear your question or comment in an upcoming podcast episode!

You're listening to the Jeff Kavana show. Episode 56, Hope in Desperate Times. Hey, I'm Jeff Kavins. How do you simplify your life? How do you study the Bible? All the way from motorcycle trips to raising kids, we're going to talk about the faith and life in general. It's the Jeff Kaven show.

Hey, thanks for joining me again this week. I hope you're doing just great. As a modern day disciple of the Lord, I'm endeavoring to follow the Lord day by day, week by week, and trying to put all of his teachings into practice as I go about my day. And I know that if you're listening to this show, you probably are trying to do that as well. I appreciate all of you, the feedback. In fact, today's show is the result of one of your emails, writing me and asking about hope and despair and being in a difficult situation.

And that's what I'm going to talk about today. Hope in desperate times. And desperate times are subjective. Some people might look at a desperate time as having a broken finger. And others might say I was in an accident and paralyzed. And it's a desperate time. It could be desperate for both. As the broken finger could be a concert violinist who thinks that he or she, their career is over. It's really subjective. But the point is, We want to talk about hope today, and hope is something that we all need desperately in our lives, particularly in these days when there are times when we can feel hopeless, whether you watch the news or something on Facebook, Twitter, a family reunion, something at work can lead you

to a sense of hopelessness. Man, we need hope, and hope is something that the Lord gives us every single day. So in this show, I want to talk about biblical hope, I want to talk about true hope, and that you can walk in that hope. And what is the difference, frankly, between hope and hopefully? You know, so many times people ask us questions, and we say, well, I hope so, or hopefully, but we don't really stand on the hope that God gives us as a foundation of our life. Hey, before we get into the topic this week on Hope, I want to encourage you to go to iTunes, go to the Google Music Play, to go there and rank the show, leave your comments.

As I've said before, it does amazing things as far as raising the show up when people are looking for Hope on iTunes or Google. They will come up with the show. It's happened over and over and over. so pleased to know that people have found the show due to the work that you've done in helping the show rise up in the ranks. And so I'm asking you to just take two or three minutes and do that. And I appreciate it. And be honest with your comments. I mean, if you enjoy the show, say it. If you don't, go get a cup of coffee. No, I'm just kidding. But please do

that. I appreciate it. And if you do have questions or you have show ideas, my email for the show is the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. That is the Jeff Kavan Show at ascensionpress.com. Hey, some of you are asking about our next pilgrimage to Israel. And in May of this particular year, which happens to be 2018, Father Mike Schmidt and I are going to be going to Israel in May. That one is sold out. But I will be going back in January of 2019. If you're interested, go to my website, jeffcavens.com. Under pilgrimage tab, we have the information there, and we would love for you to join us. We really do believe we've got the best pilgrimages to Israel. We teach two or three times every day. We have mass every day at really

cool places like Jerusalem and Copernum and Nazareth and Bethlehem. And we have the prayer of the rosary, every mystery where it belongs. So you're going to have a good time. And I encourage you to go with us to Israel. And if you have questions about that Israel trip and you don't find it on the web, you can use the same email, the Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. I want to, before I get into the topic, one more thing. I want to ask you for your prayers. And the reason for that is that I am writing two books right now. And I'm coming up with two new Bible studies that I am so excited about. And I'm not going to let the cat out of the bag at this point because I want to keep incubating and writing right now, but I need your prayers.

And I just would like to ask your prayers for the work that I'm doing now. This year, they will be out in the wild and you'll know about it, but I'm just asking for your prayers right now. Well, let's talk about hope, shall we a bit? Hope. Well, number one, before we get into definitions and all that, I want you to know something. thing. If you are baptized, the church teaches that if you are baptized, you received three wonderful, juicy virtues at baptism. Faith is number one. You have faith. You might not feel like it, but you have it. Number two, you have hope. You might not feel like it, but there's hope there.

And then the third is charity. And I want you to know that because sometimes people say, well, in my current situation, I am hopeless. I don't have any hope. And if you're a, if you are a baptized Christian, you do have those three secret ingredients, faith, hope, and charity. You might not feel like it, but I want you to know it's there. And what I'm, what I'm about today is, is trying to cultivate that in your life, because anchor is really truly, or hope is truly an anchor for the soul. So with that out of the way knowing you do have hope. It might be latent. It might be quiet at this point. It's there. Okay? It is there. Now, the dictionary defines hope as the expectation and desire for a thing. Plato said that the human existence is determined not merely by acceptance of the present and

recollection of the past, but also by expectation of the future, either good or bad. So we could say that hopes are subjective projections of the future. You see your future a certain way. You see next week in that meeting you have to go to in a certain way. It's not objective. It's subjective. That's your projection of tomorrow. That's your projection of your troubled teen. That's your projection of your marriage. But what does the Bible have to say about hope? You know, because so often, to us, hope means hope so. You know, someone says, you think it's going to be a sunny day tomorrow? I hope so. Hope so.

That's like a guess. But in the scriptures, hope never has such uncertainty connected to it. Indeed, certainty is inherent in the idea of hope. Think of reading Titus chapter 2 in verse 13. By the way, I'll have all this in the show notes. And some of you have said, I want those every week. And I think that's what we're going to be doing. I should have an answer for you by next week, I think, on this issue of us,

sending out show notes automatically if you want them. And if you do, you can write to The Jeff Kaven Show at ascensionpress.com. Well, back to our topic, Titus 213. Think about reading that in the modern sense. And it would read like this. You know, it would read that we have, have a blessed hope so instead of a blessed hope. We have a blessed hope so. No, hope means something sure, something certain that just hasn't happened yet. The Hebrew word for hope is

T-I-Q-V-A, T-I-Q-A, T-I-Q-Q-A. Hope is expectation of good, and it's linked with trust and yearning. A good definition would be an interest or desire whose fulfillment is cherished. I like what it says in Ecclesiastes 9 in verse 4, so long as there is life, there is hope. And I want to encourage you today, no matter what is happening in your life right now, what has happened in your marriage, your finances, your children, your health, at work, as long as there is life, there's hope. And I want to extend that hope to you today. You're listening to this show for a reason.

you need hope the life of the righteous is grounded in a hope that implies a future because it points its point of reference is God and that's what makes us different as Christians is our point of reference

when it comes to hope is God it isn't our own background and experience and there is a difference in the kind of hope of Plato and there's a difference in the kind of hope in scripture Plato speaks of a hope that is a projection from oneself concerning the future.

In other words, I create my future with the limited brain power I have and limited experience and limited resources and wisdom. But the hope that the Bible talks about is a projection of the future from God's perspective, and that is unlimited experience, unlimited power, unlimited wisdom. there's a big difference there. Now, the philosopher Nietzsche held that hope, get this, maybe Nietzsche is talking to your situation. Nietzsche held that hope was the worst of evils.

Why? Because it prolongs the torment of man. I'm not going to subscribe to that. I hope you don't either. The hope that the Bible speaks of is good expectation about the future because of what God has done and says he will continue to do. What a difference. If you muster hope on your own, it results in a false sense of security. What are some ways that we create our own sense of hope without God? Well, man is a hopeful being. We're going to look at some of these ways that we create

our own hope and some of the false things that we hope in. But let's talk about man as a hopeful being to begin with. Because man is limited in his knowledge of the future and because man is aware of different scenarios for the future, he's hopeful, for he naturally seeks fulfillment and meaning in life. We are made to hope. God has placed this hope within us. Look at the examples that you are familiar with in sports, for example. The greatest quarterbacks complete only six out of ten passes. There's four of them that they fail, but they've got hope. Six out of ten. The best basketball players only make about one half of their shots, but they're hopeful. Major League baseball players make first base only 40% of the time, and that includes walks. Top oil companies,

even with the consultation of expert geologists find oil in only one well in 10. Yet they keep going. There's a hope. A successful TV actor has turned down 29 out of 30 times after auditioning for roles in commercials. Winners in the stock market make money only two out of five investments, yet they keep investing. There's some kind of hope there. Perhaps one of the most dramatic examples in history of perseverance in the face of repeated defeat is the professional record of Abraham Lincoln. He lost his job and he He was defeated for the legislature in 1832. He failed in business in 1833. He was elected to the legislature in 1834. He suffered the loss of his sweetheart who died in 1835. He suffered a nervous breakdown in 1836. He was defeated for Speaker of the State Legislature in 1838. He was defeated for nomination for Congress in 1843. He was elected to, Congress in 1846. Yay. He lost his renomination for Congress in 1848. He was rejected for the position

of land officer in 1849. He was defeated for Senate in 1854. He was defeated for the nomination for vice president in 1856. He was defeated again for the Senate in 1858. And Abraham Lincoln, after persevering and walking in hope, was elected president. of the United States in 1860. What an amazing story of tenacity, perseverance, hope, hope, in the face of overwhelming odds. When we really examine hope, we see that hope is an activating and guiding principle for life in looking at the various categories of life, faith, intellectual endeavors,

bodily desires, moral, ideal, social interests, we see that hope is a major factor in all of these areas. None of the disciplines that I just mentioned spur one to action without some measure of hope or certainty. And that is a fact. You could say in a real way that hope is a crossroad in our life. Hope can lead to sin. Hope can lead to obedience. It may err as well as guide correctly. Eve, the wife of Adam, hoped to achieve wisdom when she ate the fruit. What hope does depends on what a man seeks to find fulfillment in and on what his hope is based. Some hope in riches. First 6.17, some hope and riches command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God,

who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Some people put their hope in man, mankind, men, women. Psalm 118, it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man. some people put their hope in idols Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 4813 he warned he said then Moab will be ashamed at Chemash as the House of Israel was ashamed when they trusted in idols in Bethel

some put their hopes in things have you ever done that you put your hope in things Psalm 33 17 says a horse is a vain hope for deliverance Despite all its great strength, it cannot save. Don't put hope in things that cannot get the job done. Misplaced hope can be very deceiving and destructive.

So where is your hope? I want to talk to you about that. I'm going to take a break right now. When we come back, I'm going to talk about putting your hope in God and the opportunity that God is going to give you to open a door of hope where right now there is despair in your life. You're listening to The Jeff Kaven Show. If you're looking for a way to learn more about your Catholic faith,

I invite you to check out the Ascension Presents YouTube channel. You're going to find tons of free videos featuring Catholic presenters like Matt Frad, Leodero, Jackie Bobby Angel, and Emily Wilson. Go to YouTube.com slash ascension Presents. That's YouTube.com slash ascension presents. And if you like what you see, please share and subscribe. Welcome back talking about hope. Hatikva, the hope.

It's the national anthem of Israel. Hope is a theological virtue that has been given to you at baptism. It's there. You can cultivate it. You can hope in things. You can hope in yourself. You can hope in men or you can hope in God. And a hope that is based in God is a projection of the future, that is a good future, that is based on his power, his wisdom, his resources, all of it, rather than a subjective sense of hope based on your own experiences and wisdom and resources.

I want to say something very important, and this is it. God wants us to have hope when we have let him down or have sinned greatly. Maybe you have experienced this where you got caught up in sin and you wanted to put your life back together again, but you found it difficult because of the sin in your life, you didn't think that there was hope and that God wouldn't receive you back. but I want you to know today, and I mean this, my friend, with all of my heart, God wants you to have hope more than you need hope, more than you want hope. God wants you to have hope when you have let even him down or have sinned greatly.

That's why he gave you hope to help you in times like this. Some may be holding things in and it has robbed your hope. And this is what God said to Israel through the prophet, Josea. Listen to this. This is incredibly powerful what I'm going to share with you right now. In fact, this is the type of thing. You're probably going to send on to your friends. I'm going to put it in the show notes. Go ahead. Send it on to your friends. Let's share the hope. I hope you do. This is what God said to Israel through the prophet Hosea. For 40 years from 755 to 710 BC during Israel's dark days, he faithfully warned of God's coming judgment of a rebellious

and disobedient people. But at the same time, he reminded them of God's love. The moving story of Josea's marriage to Gomer, a prostitute, who left him to become a prostitute in pagan Bale fertility worship, enabled the prophet to identify with God's broken heart and his anguish over Israel's unfaithfulness. And God wanted things to be right between him and his people. God said of Israel, the prophet. He said, therefore, I am now going to allure her. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. In Hebrew, the words speak comfort to her or speak tenderly to her mean speak to her heart. The message God wanted Israel to hear was one of a new deliverance and a new hope. So God spoke through the prophet Hosea to Israel, and he said this, and this is the basic message that he said to Israel.

He said, I am your husband. You have been unfaithful. You are going to be judged, and you're going to go into exile. But I will not forget you. I will come after you. I will seek you, and I will give you living water. That is the message of Hosea to Israel, who is the 10 tribes to the north, right? That was the message.

But God also said something really, really important about hope to Israel in Hosea chapter 2 in verse 15. Now listen to this. This is the gold right here. He says, therefore, I will give her back her vineyards. Because she's been unfaithful. and will make the valley of Ahor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the days she came up out of Egypt.

Now here, I want you to notice something here, okay? God says, I'm going to make the valley of Ahor, A-C-H-O-R, a door of hope. Now, what is the valley of Ahur? What is that exactly? it's a metaphor right it's a door of hope god's going to make the valley of ahor a door of hope what is the valley of achor in israel's history let me explain it to you just takes a moment you're going to love it the valley of achor was synonymous with failure you see once Israel came over the jordan river in the book of joshua they came over the jordan river they took jericho and then the

next city that they were supposed to take is a small city by the name of AI. And God said, when you go to AI, you shall not take anything for yourself. When you go to Jericho, you should not take anything for yourself. It's a complete Holocaust to the Lord. But one man took some of the loot from Jericho and took it to himself, hid it for himself. His name, Aiken. Aiken kept out for himself, clothing, silver, gold. And the sin was revealed, and Aiken and his family were dealt with. But the point is, it held back the entire nation from taking the little city of Ahor, or the city of A.I. Rather. Now, where did this happen? This was a great disgrace. Where did it happen? Where did this sin of Aiken happen? The valley of Ahor. So any time in the future that if Israel,

Israel wanted to speak about a time that was really, really devastating, disgraceful, sign of failure. All they had to say was valley of a whore. Valley of a whore. Can I ask you a question? Do you have a valley of a whore? Do you have a time in your life where it was disgraceful a failure, embarrassing, and it has come to define your life and you can't get rid of it? Is that your valley of Ahor? Listen to what God said to his beloved. I will make the valley of Ahor a door of hope. My friend, this might be one of the greatest messages you have ever heard, and that is this,

the very thing that has happened in your life that has led to such disgrace and dishonor and hurt and pain can become a door of hope for you. The people who heard Josea knew exactly what he was speaking of. For them, it was a code word for a terrible failure. And in the context of the tender love of God for Israel, this is the message. worst time can become a door of hope. In spite of all that it happened, the Lord is now saying that he will transform Israel's valley of a horn into a door of hope, a way out. And he's saying the same thing to you today. He's saying the same thing to you today. Perhaps you've lost hope

because of some sin in the past, some scandal in the present. But God can take that sin and transform it into a door of hope. I want to encourage you in that today, because we cannot go forward with hopelessness. When you lose hope, you enter despair, and despair can lead to the end of all things for you. and it is a sin against justice that God, God deserves what he has done for you. He deserves the fruit of what he has done for you. Listen to what Paul said in Romans. Can't get enough of scripture,

can we? Romans 5, starting in verse 1, therefore since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him, we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand. and we rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. Isn't that great? We rejoice in our hope. We rejoice in our hope of sharing the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, which has been given to us. I love that. Now, I'm sitting here looking at all kinds of scriptures on hope that I would just, I'd love to just rattle them all off to you. I really, really would.

But I'm not going to do it right now. But I will do this. I will do this. I will put them all in the show notes. And I'm talking about 30 to 40 scriptures on hope. They're going to be in the show notes if you want them. And you can meditate on them because it's good. But I want to end with this one particular scripture, which I love.

It's Hebrew 6, verses 17 through 19. Listen to this. If you're moved by the Word of God, you might want to pull over on the side of the road. Listen to this, because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised. He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul. firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. I love that. What do I love? I love that statement. Hope is an anchor for the soul. Let me talk to you just just one on one here for a moment. You feel like you are a ship that's out of control. You're in the middle of the sea and you see no land. there's no other ships around you feel empty depleted God is throwing you an anchor to stop this and that anchor is hope from this day forward

stop looking at the future from your own perspective and adopt his worldview his perspective no longer is it just an objective future projection or a subjective future projection but it is a future projection based on his faithfulness and his provision and his track record and his love for you he has a hope for you that is good It is good. It is a good projection. And that's what Jeremiah, the prophet once said. He said it so well. He said, you know, he said that God has a future and a hope for you. Isn't that great? It's Jeremiah 29-11. I'll give it to you now. He says, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope. future. Let me end with this. If your view of God is this master in heaven who is waiting to punish you at every wrong turn in your life, you have missed the boat. He is your father. And as your father,

he wants you to succeed. He wants you to have a bright tomorrow. He wants you to experience the plans that he has for your future, agree with him. Don't agree with the enemy. Don't agree with this world. Don't agree with that past projection of yours that was always coming up. You know, I'm a loser. I'm just a worm. Don't do that. Don't do that. Listen to your Heavenly Father. He loves you. he's given you a hope and as long as you have breath and life there is hope

put your hope in him say it after me right now just say Lord Jesus go ahead and say it Lord Jesus I understand the situation that I'm in and I know

that my own projection of the future will not win in this situation I put my hope in you. I put my hope in your finished work on the cross. I put my hope in your eternal plan for my life. And I put my hope in your power. And I accept that in Jesus' name.

Amen. Well, I hope this show has been some benefit. As I'm looking at my, you know, at my, notes that I prepared for you. I've got literally, I'm not kidding you, I think I got 30 or 40 other scriptures on hope that I would love, I would love to share with you, but I can't do it in the time that I have. I'm just going to put it in the show notes, okay? Show notes this week, solid gold, you win, you get it all, it's going to be really good, and I hope you share it with others. Please share the show with other people that you know might need a little bit of hope today in their

life. And again, go to iTunes. Go to the Google site that you might get the show from and leave your comments and rank the show. Let me close in prayer for you. I want you to know I do love you. And that's why I'm here. I want to share this with you. And I am blown away at how many people come up to me on the road and say, I listen regularly. And I think, great. We got a relationship. This is great. Let's pray. Name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Lord, I thank you today for the hope that you have given us. I thank you for the plans you have for us. And I thank you that you have given us hope, even at baptism.

We want to grow in that hope and cultivate it by looking to you and walking in faithfulness. We refuse to believe lies, Lord, about our current situation. And we put our hope in you and your idea of what our future is. For our future is based on your finished work, not on our... failures. We thank you for this in Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.