Letters From Grandpa #287

LETTERS FROM GRANDPA # 287

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter will deal with “hoping in the Lord”. Our text is: “Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Is. 40:30,31).

The Hebrew word translated as “hope” in our text is “kaw-vaw”. It means “to expect”. The KJV translates it as “wait”. If you are “waiting” on someone to help you, it is comforting if you “expect” them to come. You can “wait” patiently as long as you believe help is on the way. Those who don’t expect help grow weary, stumble, and fall. Even young people can be victims of discouragement. But those who hope in the Lord are different. They renew their strength. They soar on wings like an eagle. They can run and not grow weary. They can walk and not be faint.

According to Numbers 13 Moses sent our 12 spies to explore the Promised Land. Ten of the twelve spies had no hope that it could be done. Their names are: Sammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Majbo, and Geuel (Nu. 13:1-16). Hardly anyone remembers these negative thinkers. Only two of the spies had hope. Their names were Caleb and Joshua. Negative thinking is contagious. The negative report convinced the unbelieving crowd that the giants were too big for God to give them victory. Caleb and Joshua, however, refused to be afraid. They “hoped in the Lord”. We remember the “two” but not the “twelve”. Negative people are easily forgotten.

Here is a list of positive thinkers. Not all of them “hoped in the Lord”, but all of them did at least have enough hope they they didn’t quit. Nobody remembers a quitter.

m It has been said that Thomas Edison tried 10,000 ways to make a light bulb. He never gave up because he never lost hope. He continually “expected” to succeed and he did!

m Vincent Van Gogh produced over 900 paintings during his life, but only sold one “The Red Vineyard at Arles”. His perpetual hope, however, kept him painting.

m Albert Einstein didn’t speak for the first three years of his life. He was considered lazy and distracted by his teachers. He succeeded as a scientist, however, because he never lost hope.

m Benjamin Franklin was born in such poverty that he was forced to quit school at the age of 10. Because he had hope, however, he refused to give up and the rest is history.

m Abraham Lincoln chalked up an incredibly long list of failures before becoming President.

m Henry Ford was a 40 year old failure in 1903. That's when his hope compelled him to try one more time. That time he didn’t fail!

m Milton Hershey dropped out of school after only two and a half years. He was fired from his first job at age 14. Over the next 20 years he suffered a long series of failures. Finally he went back to the farm and experimented with making his own brand of chocolate. He was 43 years old when he started the Hershey Chocolate Company. Thank God he didn’t quit.

m Walt Disney was fired from his first job at the Kansas City Star because the editor believed he lacked imagination and creativity. His “hope” was the secret of his success.

Steven Spielberg was rejected from film school three different times and from USC twice.

Franklin Roosevelt was paralyzed from the waist down by polio but still dared to run for office.

m Sylvester Stallone suffered a severed nerve in his face at birth. It paralyzed the left side of his face including parts of his lip, tongue, and chin.

m Michael Jordan was cut from the varsity basketball team during his sophomore year.

m Stephen King’s first novel was rejected 30 times.

m Helen Keller was the first blind, deaf, and dumb person to earn a college degree.

m Dr. Seuss was rejected 27 times before someone published one of his books.

m Col. Sanders fried chicken recipe was rejected by 1,009 restaurants before one finally agreed to give him a chance.

m Etc.

I think you get the point. The most important “hope” we have, however, involves things that are eternal. Col. Harlan Sanders, for example, did not receive Christ and be baptized until he was 77 years old. Better late than never! His earthly hope made him into a millionaire. His heavenly hope was much better! It provided him with eternal life and eternal riches. Paul put it like this: “Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands” (2 Cor. 5:1).

If you “know” what Paul “knew” and Col. Harlan Sanders “knew”, you too will have hope and be eternally blessed. When you hope in the Lord you will renew your strength, soar like an eagle, run and not grow weary, walk and not faint.

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce