Despair looks at the difficulties, circumstances as insurmountable. Hope looks to God and says , All Things are possible… with Him!
The Lord had guaranteed He would give the people the land, the people went out and spied it and saw it and came back and gave a bad report. They saw the people in the land as giants, and indeed insurmountable, overwhelming,unconquerable,invincible and so the people went into despair and did not trust the LORD and take Him at His Promise instead they leaned to their own understanding and as a result did not move forward in faith in Him, and suffered the consequences of living by sight rather than faith in Him. They had seen the LORD deliver them from the bondage of the Egyptians, they had experienced Him open the Red Sea and drown the army of the Egyptians.
” They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” -{Exodus 14:11-12}
They had every reason for HOPE, but they chose to look at the difficulties and lean to their own understanding and they despaired. Despair is that sinking down feeling, depression of the mind and emotions, the sense of hopelessness.The difficulties, circumstances are too much, invincible, insurmountable, hopeless, irrational as it does not see God as He is and leave Him out of the equation!
Contrast that with the “Hope” Moses seeks to inject to them when he says,…
“Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”-{Exodus 14:11-14}.
Despair looks at the difficulties and concludes as insurmountable! Hope looks to God and says – All things are possible…with HIM!
It all depends on who you are looking to, where your HOPE is? Self or Him and what He says in the Scriptures?
The word Hope means “confident expectation,…” in Him because of who He is and what He promises. Hope is assured and confident in His promises!
Hope in God!