O LORD, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God. You do such wonderful things! You planned them long ago, and now you have accomplished them.
Isaiah‬ ‭25‬:‭1‬ NLT

The thing about hope is that it has the ability, if you hold tightly to it, to get you through. Through the dark night, the tough times, the heartbreak. And then, when you get through all that you look back and see the wonderful things that God has done. How even the dark nights and the tough times and the heartbreak were part of a plan for something better, something wonderful.

At least, this has been my experience. It doesn’t mean that the dark night doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t make the tough times any less painful, it doesn’t make the heartbreak less heartbreaking…but it makes it possible to get through them. It makes it possible to arrive at a day when you can look back and see things differently – even be thankful for the tough times because in them you learned. In them, you grew.

The reason Isaiah’s words are so powerful is that he was writing from a place of hope. He writes as though the wonderful thing has already been accomplished (and certainly God had already accomplished some wonderful things at this point). But the Messiah who is the most wonderful thing, the fulfillment of all the things God has planned has not yet come. In fact, would not come for centuries and centuries after these words are written.

And yet Isaiah’s hope is so strong, so alive, that he writes as if it is already done. As if the Messiah were right in front of him.

Hope is a powerful thing. Hope is a necessary thing. Hope is a gift.

Hope is part of the advent journey because in Jesus we always find ort hopes fulfilled.

May you hold on to hope – in the dark, when the way gets rough – may you grasp tightly to the hope fulfilled in Jesus. May you find your way through to a day in which you can look back and see the wonderful things that God has done, things He had planned long ago.