Just wait—it only gets worse.
It’s a statement I’ve heard many times. I first remember hearing it when I became engaged. Always spoken by an unhappily married person, the comment usually went something like this: “You’re happy now, but give it a year or two. It only gets worse.”
The comment became much more frequent, however, when I became pregnant with my first child (then my second, third, and fourth). People from church and my community all shared this statement with me. Most recently, my family and I were out in our community when an older couple asked me if all those kids were mine. I replied that yes, they were, and they were a blessing. She shot back, “Call me when they’re teenagers and then see how much of a blessing they’ll be!”
I suppose an optimistic person might counter this statement with a positive thought, something along the lines of “every cloud has a silver lining” or “there’s always a rainbow in every storm.”
But what about when things do actually get worse? How do you have hope in hopeless times?
Hope for Hopeless Times
The Biblical definition of hope blows the “it only gets worse” perspective out of the water.
Here’s the secret:
For the Christian, things will ultimately only get better.
The word “ultimately” is important here, because the Bible doesn’t promise that once you become a Christian, your life becomes easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. Instead, it promises suffering for every child of God. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:16-17).
But suffering isn’t the end of the story.
It’s true that your parenting journey might get worse.
Your marriage may turn sour or dissolve.
And you will most certainly have health struggles as you age.
But that’s not the end of the story.
For every believer in Jesus Christ, God has written a story that contains suffering but doesn’t culminate in suffering. Rather, it ends in glory! “The sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”(Romans 8:18).
The end of the story is not what we write, but what God has written. As a result, we can have hope now. “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Corinthians 4:16). The hope that God gives believers is a hope that will most assuredly be fulfilled, never disappointed.
How can I have hope today?
Let’s make this practical. How can you have hope in your life today?
Hope in Parenting
Because Jesus is alive, I have hope in my parenting today. My hope is not that my children will grow up to love and live for Christ; although I desperately pray to that end. Rather, my hope is that God is able to work through me to accomplish his work in my children.
Hope in Marriage
Because Jesus is alive, I have hope as I relate to my spouse today. My hope is not that he will love me like I want to be loved or lead me like I want to be led. Instead, I hope in God who is able to work in and through my marriage to make me more like Jesus and lead me to closer fellowship with him.
Hope in Relationships
Because Jesus is alive, I have hope in my relationships today. My hope is not that my friends and acquaintances will serve me and meet my relational needs. Instead, it’s anchored in the truth that God uses all disappointments and hurts to remind me that there is only one friend who has given his life for mine. “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers” (1 John 3:16). Only this perfect friend can meet the needs of my heart.
Hope in Sufferings
And perhaps my favorite one of all: Because Jesus is alive, I have hope in my sufferings today. My hope is not that God will remove my sufferings, although he may choose to do that. My hope is not even that he will use them for some great worldwide evangelism project, although he could choose to do that too.
My hope is that he never lets any part of my suffering go to waste. (Related: Nothing is Wasted) Instead, he works through my suffering to produce endurance, character, and hope in my life. “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3-5).
Remind your soul of the truth
When you are tempted to believe the lie that “it will only get worse,” remind your soul of the truth of God’s Word: “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jeremiah 29:11).
May we fix our eyes on this God who gives us a hope that cannot be shaken.
