English (United States) 
Advent Devotional
What comes to your mind when you think about the word hope?
You might hope you get that video game you really want or hope that it’s a white Christmas this year. In those cases, we don’t know if what we are hoping for will really happen. We can’t control the outcome! But when the Bible talks about hope, there is a certainty, not because of what we hope for, but because of Who we hope in. The Bible teaches us that we can hope in God.
Hope is believing and longing for something while trusting that God will keep His promise. The people of Israel had waited and hoped for hundreds of years. But God’s plan began long before Israel even knew to hope for it. Before the world began, God had a plan for our redemption. He knew we would need a Savior. When Adam and Eve sinned, God spoke the first recorded promise about Jesus. God made another promise about Jesus to Abraham, then another to David. Throughout the Old Testament, God promised His people that He would send a Messiah—their Savior. God’s timing is perfect, and God always keeps His promises. But it is often hard for us to wait; we can become impatient. Israel waited and waited with hope for the day that God’s promise of a Messiah would come true. It had been 400 years since God had last spoken to the people. They waited and hoped.
Hope in God will never leave you disappointed. Throughout all of history, God has never left His people hopeless. God promised to send Jesus to rescue people from sin and make a way for us to be welcomed into God’s family for eternity. What an amazing gift, way better than a video game! When we read through the prophecies of the Old Testament and then see how God kept His promises when we read the New Testament, we know we can trust God to keep all of His promises. Jesus promised that He would return one day and we would be with Him forever (John 14:1-3). We live in hope today as we eagerly await Jesus’ return to make all things new. And because God is faithful, this hope is certain!