People around the world are broken and struggling. They have experienced pain and hardship in their lives, which have left them wounded and desperate for healing. Oftentimes, people advocate that hope can heal and relieve suffering.
As good as hope is, hope alone cannot provide the remedy that people desire. Rather, hope in a Person, specifically Jesus Christ, is the only thing that can provide healing and restoration that humans long for in life.
Merely having hope that life will get better or that everything will work out does not help people. Instead, this mindset is more linked to wishful thinking.
Unlike wishes, hope is established and firm. It is based on something or someone secure and reliable. God alone is the only One who is reliable and unchanging, in who we can place our hope. The Lord, not the idea of hope, can help a person heal.
Finding Healing in God
Numerous people in the Bible found hope in God. They did not just have “hope” that something would happen to help them.
Instead, they trusted in the Lord, who is the basis for the believer’s hope. For example, Paul found healing from his hatred toward Christians, and multiple others found spiritual renewal because of their faith in Jesus.
An instructive example of the strengthening power of hope is David. He experienced hardships throughout his life. Although he was the chosen king of Israel, David was the target of Saul’s murderous plans (1 Samuel 19:1-2).
Multiple times in his life, David had to live in fear of his enemies taking his life, whether from Saul or Absalom (1 Samuel 19:10; 2 Samuel 15:13-14). During these times, he lived in hiding, which required him to find hope outside of his circumstances.
The psalms David wrote reflect a strong hope in the Lord. In Psalm 62, he conveys a confident trust in God and the folly of placing faith in humans or riches.
As he reminded himself, “Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress. I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge” (Psalm 62:5-8).
Healing hope comes from God. David could have allowed the situations around him to cripple him in fear and despair, but instead, he found the courage to keep going because of the Lord’s love. Even when everything around us is challenging, and we feel broken, we can find hope in God.
The Hope of the World
During Jesus’ ministry on earth, people flocked to Him. Hurting individuals and outcasts were all drawn to Christ because of the healing He offered. This healing was not just for the sick, blind, or crippled but also for those who longed for forgiveness and wholeness in their lives.
Zacchaeus, a chief tax collector, wanted to see the Lord when He passed by, so the short man climbed a tree for a better view (Luke 19:1-4). Jesus recognized Zacchaeus’ desire for salvation and dined with him that evening (Luke 19:5).
The tax collector, who was despised by others, experienced healing from his life of sin by trusting in Christ (Luke 19:7).
To show evidence that he was the recipient of grace, Zacchaeus said, “‘Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’” (Luke 19:8-10).
The Samaritan woman also placed her hope in Jesus and experienced healing. She was an outcast among her people, a woman who lived with a man who was not her husband (John 4:7-9, 17-18). She sat by the well gathering water to quench her thirst.
Jesus was there to meet her needs, telling her about the “living water” that He could offer her as the promised Messiah (John 4:13-14, 25-26). On that day, she placed her hope in Jesus as the Christ. In doing so, she took a step toward healing and spiritual wholeness.
Jesus has always been the hope of the world. The prophets of old foretold that He would provide hope and healing (Isaiah 53:5; Romans 15:8-13).
Matthew’s gospel reiterates Jesus’ role as the One who would bring hope to a hurting world by quoting from Isaiah 42:1-4: “his name will be the hope of all the world” (Matthew 12:21, NLT).
Since His first coming, multitudes of individuals have placed their faith in Christ and received the gift of salvation (John 3:16; Ephesians 2:8-9).
In Him, believers receive the “cure” or “remedy” for their sin problem (2 Corinthians 5:21). A new life is given to them — a life of love, hope, freedom, and grace.
Can Hope Heal Me Physically?
Although hope in Jesus can provide healing from pain and brokenness, we are not always promised physical healing in our earthly life. Jesus did heal multitudes of people during His earthly ministry, which was a taste of the coming Kingdom.
However, today we cannot touch the end of Jesus’ robe as the woman with bleeding did (Matthew 9:20-22) or have friends lower us through a roof to receive healing from paralysis (Luke 5:18-20).
Often, our Lord does provide provision for easing sickness. In His grace, He has given humans the ability to study and develop medicine and treatments for various diseases. Since “every good and perfect gift is from above,” we can trust that any help we receive for physical healing is from God (James 1:17).
Sometimes, though, God allows suffering and illnesses to help us grow and learn. He can redemptively use these challenging seasons for His purpose. The psalmist recognized how he grew in his relationship with God during affliction.
As he wrote, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71). While God never causes evil to happen, He can make something good come from sickness or chronic illness for His glory.
What Does This Mean?
Therefore, hope is positive and beneficial. We should have hope in the Lord, but we are mistaken if we think hope itself provides healing. Only God can bring restoration and healing into our broken and hurting hearts.
Reading about the examples of people in Scripture encourages us to place our hope in God. He worked in the lives of people like David and Zacchaeus. Likewise, we can receive healing from our sin and past pain by trusting in Jesus.
He might not choose to heal our physical ailments as we want. Instead, He might choose to work gently in our lives over time, helping us to learn from our painful past or a chronic illness.
Whatever happens, we can trust in our Lord and Savior. We can agree with the psalmist that there is nowhere else we can place our hope or find healing: “and so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you” (Psalm 39:7).
For further reading:
Why Doesn’t God Heal Everyone?
How to Have Hope in Anxious Times
What Is the Spiritual Gift of Healing?
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