According to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), “over 3 million Syrian people have fled to the country’s immediate neighbors Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, and Iraq. 6.5 million are internally displaced within Syria.” This humanitarian crisis has more than just physical effects on the refugees. According to the Refugee Health Technical Assistance Center, “the more common mental health diagnoses include PTSD, major depression, anxiety, and panic attacks.” “Children and adolescents often have high levels of PTSD from 50-90% and major depression from 6-40%. These numbers are staggering and can be difficult to relate to or personalize.

So, just think for a moment of a husband or father trying to protect and provide for his family. How would he keep hold of hope when all around is crumbling? How would he find even a moment of peace or rest from worry are those he loves and cares for are suffering? How would he have any confidence in this new situation of constant uncertainty where even the basest of needs may not be met – food, water, shelter?

In 1 Peter 1:3-4, the apostle speaks to this situation. These believers are “scattered” following the Assyrian and Babylonian attacks and captivities. They desperately needed to hold fast to hope because their day-to-day reality was grim. The Lord says to them through Peter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”

The wisdom of God is that He is both just and merciful. On the one hand, He cannot tolerate sin. He must eradicate it. On the other hand, He knows that an even deeper desperation than that of basic needs plagues us. This passage states that He has shown great mercy, kindness, or clemency towards the miserable and the afflicted by sin (that’s you and me). He shows His mercy by curing the plague of sin through salvation in Christ. It is through this His sacrificial act on the cross alone that salvation comes. The fact that He would be so loving toward the unlovable is mind-blowing. We struggle with being merciful toward others in traffic. Can you imagine the extent God is willing to go to save His children?

The Father initiates a new birth in us. This is not anything we can create. It is supernatural and of God only. We are born again to an active, fresh, endless, vigorous, powerful, and efficacious hope.

Hope is an expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen. Without the hope of change, why would we expend any energy or effort toward anything? Hope in Christ is different than “I hope I win the lottery” or “I hope my team wins.” It isn’t wishing for the best while you flip a coin. It isn’t waiting to see what happens and betting on the chance that it turns out in your favor. This HOPE is a guaranteed reality through the person and work of Christ. It is a fact, not a wish. It is a joyful confidence in what is certain to come.

When we put our faith in Christ, we are sealed and set to inherit, as our possession, an eternal blessedness which is the kingdom of God. Though we can’t see it now, it will be fully realized after the return of Christ. This promise is impervious to deterioration or decay. Its very nature is immortal because of who created it. It is bullet-proof against anything in this world or heaven that would try to dent it, deform it debase it, or attempt to weaken it. It is unfading, never waning, always bright, beautiful, and in full effect. And that promise is guarded, preserved and reserved for you. It is protected in a place that the evil cannot touch. It is held pristine condition in the heavens by God himself.

This hope in tomorrow is how you can hold fast today. If we would spend our time dwelling on this truth and abiding in Him, then the trials of this life would grow dimmer. I don’t mean to say that cancer, or marriage troubles, or hunger, or unemployment, or chronic pain, or anything else this world can throw at you is insignificant. On the contrary, it hurts and can seem unending. But that is where this hope comes in. He is the perfect cure for what ails us. With Him, this pain actually does have an end. We endure this temporary affliction with a permanent cure to come.

Brother, do not despair. He loves you.
To the one who has had many trials, don’t give up. He is beside you and intimately knows your need.
To the one who is tired, lay your burden at His feet; rest in this peace. His burden is light.
To the one who has been wronged, justice is coming.
To the one who has lost hope in this world, trust in the One Hope that will never fail. And, let Him invigorate your days until He comes again, raises you up to His face, and lovingly embraces you – because you are His own.