Second Friend Day - Elmer Towns

3. You should have hope because "all things work together for good."
Discouragement is nothing more than the collapse of a Christian's hope. "Things can't improve, "
a woman says. She fears the future just like the man who maintains " Things are gonna get
worse."
The Bible teaches, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love
God" (Rom. 8:28). God has His hand on the controls. You might not like everything that
happens to you but "God is never caught by surprise."
When you know the Scriptures, you will live daily with the anticipation of God's working
in your life. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we,
through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope" (Rom. 15:4). The total
message of Scripture produces optimistic living. You have a bright future with each day's
dawning. Even when circumstances do not get better, God's grace is sufficient for every need.
When your life is in His hand, there are no emergencies that He can't cope with.
When you apply the Scriptures to your life, you build hope. One friend asked another,
"What Bible translation do you like best?"
"I like my mother's translation best," he answered.
"Did she translate the Bible?" the stunned friend asked in amazement.
"She's been translating it into everyday life for fifty-three years."
When you fear, you cancel out the blessings of hope. A young mother had been called a
"fussbudget." When her kids went out in the rain, she worried that they would get a cold. On a
beautiful sunny day, she worried that warm weather would bring out snakes, so she kept her
children inside. As they played in the den, she worried about their climbing and falling. Her
habit of worrying put her in bondage to fear. She cancelled the delivery order of peace that God
has promised, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee" (Isa. 26:3).
Perhaps you are going through tribulation now. It is necessary for everyone to go through
the waters of sacrifice at some time. It mellows-us and makes us depend on Him. Under the
tribulation, we learn to hope in God. "But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with
patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:25).
Hope is the down payment of the future. The cripple has hope that one day he will no
longer need his crutches and the blind knows he will see. Beyond death, they will no longer
struggle. "Tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope" (Rom.
5:3-4).
4. You should have hope because Christ is coming for you. A little girl went to her
mother with a ribbon. "Fix my hair."
"You usually don't like me to fix your hair," the mother said out of perplexity, although
she had tried to teach her daughter to look pretty for others.