It Is Not Hopeless!

I talk to many people who seem to be hopeless as they look at their lives and the circumstances that surround them. I perceive a sense of hopelessness in our culture today.

Paul saw a similar situation in the world of the first century. In Ephesians 4:17-19 he says, “With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against Him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.”

These people are hopelessly confused and their minds are full of darkness. They are in this condition because they wandered far from the life God gives. They wandered away because they closed their minds and hardened their hearts against God. That led to them living lives with no sense of shame, of living for their own lustful pleasure, and practicing every kind of impurity.

Honestly, that sounds very much like the culture we live in today.

But the Good News in Jesus is that we don’t have to live:
Hopeless
Confused
Minds Closed
Hearts Darkened
Far from God and His Life
In Lustful Pleasure
Practicing Impurity

We can live in hope.
We can live in confidence.
We can live in boldness.

Let’s look at the lives of four men who lived in very difficult times.
These men loved God.
These men sought to obey God.
These men sought to serve God.

In Daniel chapter 1 Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were part of the people from the nation of Judah who were carried into captivity in Babylon.

They were to be trained to serve in the Babylonian government which changed their names and attempted to change their cultural viewpoints and their spiritual viewpoints.

One of the things they did was to give them food from the king’s table to eat. This food had been offered to idols, the false gods of the Babylonians. If Daniel and his companions ate it they would be entering into the worship of those false gods.

Daniel 1:8 says, “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank. Therefore he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.”

The chief of the eunuchs refused to allow Daniel and his companions to do that because it was a risk to his positions.

Daniel didn’t give up.

In Daniel 1:12-13, Daniel says, “Test your servants for ten days; let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then let our appearance and the appearance of the youths who eat the king’s food be observed by you, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”

Daniel believes that God wants him and his companions not to eat the food offered to idols and he trusts God to work in such a way that in ten days the chief eunuch would be able to see a visible difference.

The situation looked hopeless and from a human viewpoint it was. Daniel didn’t view it from a human viewpoint but from God’s. And with God nothing is hopeless or impossible.

Then in Daniel 1:19 we are told that when the king interviewed all the young men who were in training, he found that Daniel and his companions were by far the best.

Situations are hopeless when we give up and stop trusting God.

Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Daniel didn’t give up even when it looked hopeless and God gave him a harvest.

In Daniel chapter three King Nebuchadnezzar sets up a golden statue ninety feet tall and nine feet wide. He brings all of his government officials together and tells them that when the music starts they are all to bow down and worship the statue.

There were three of the officials, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who did not bow down and worship the statue of gold.

Nebuchadnezzar had said that anyone who didn’t bow and worship the statue would be thrown into a flaming hot furnace.

When Nebuchadnezzar was made aware of the fact these three did not bow down and worship, he summoned them to come to him. He informed them of the consequences of not obeying.

The three men answered Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:16-18. They said, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this is to be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”

So Nebuchadnezzar has them thrown into the furnace.

This is a hopeless situation. They were going to die.

They choose to not give in and worship a false God. They were willing to pay the cost for their devotion to God.

But out of a seemly hopeless situation God did something amazing.

First when Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace he saw not three men, but four.

Then in Daniel 3:27 listen to the condition of the three men as they came out of the furnace, “The fire had not had any power over the bodies of those men. The hair on their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them.”

The men obeyed God. The men found themselves in a hopeless situation. The men trusted God. God gave them a miracle that affected the whole Babylonian Empire. In Daniel 3:29 Nebuchadnezzar issues a decree that no one in all the empire can say anything bad about the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.

When we are in a seemly hopeless situation and obey God, He will come through.

In Daniel chapter 6 King Darius is enticed to issue a decree that for thirty days that people could not pray to any god or man except Darius.

We are told in Daniel 6:10 that Daniel knew the document had been signed but he still went to his house and with the widows open kneeled on his knees and prayed and gave thanks to God.

This was reported to the king and he was compelled to have Daniel put into the den of lions.

This is a hopeless situation.

The next day the king hurries to check on Daniel and he shouts to see how Daniel is. In Daniel 6:21-22 Daniel responds, “O king live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lion’s mouth, and they have not harmed me because I was found blameless before Him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Daniel obeyed God. A seemingly hopeless situation developed and God protected Daniel.

In Daniel 6:26-27 Darius issues a decree that all the people in the Persia Empire were to recognize that Daniels’ God as a living God enduring forever. That His kingdom shall never be destroyed and His dominion shall be to the end. That He delivers and rescues, That He works wonders in heaven and on earth.

When we trust and obey God in seemingly hopeless situations, it lead to:
Harvest
Whole Cultures Being Influenced
Miracles
People Being Transformed
God Being Glorified

We live in a world that is broken and from a human perspective is hopeless.

Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls is about looking at life and living life from a God perspective.

When we live from a God perspective, then it is not hopeless.

Zechariah 4:6: “Not by might, not by power but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of Host.

When you face a seemingly hopeless situation or when you feel like things are hopeless, remember the truth of Romans 15:13: “May the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in HOPE.”

With Hope Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe