Why We Lose Hope

Nebuchadnezzar has had a bad dream and can't sleep. So, he calls his advisors and asks them to tell him what his dream meant. Actually, he asks them to tell him what his dream WAS and then tell him what it meant.

Their response is sad:

"The astrologers answered the king, 'There is not a man on earth who can do what the king asks! No king, however great and mighty, has ever asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or astrologer. What the king asks is too difficult. No one can reveal it to the king except the gods, and they do not live among men'" (Daniel 2:10-11).

If Nebuchadnezzar's problems stem from the fact that he thinks he's God. The advisors have a different problem. They know they're not God (or "the gods"). Their problem is that they have no access to whoever can help them.

That's a hopeless situation, indeed! They're unable to do something. They know there is someone out there would could do it, but there's no way to get that someone involved in their situation.

Hopeless.

When I find myself living without hope, it's usually not because I think God's unable; it's usually because I forget that he's come to live among us.