
Today I would like to say a special word of thanks to those of you who have supported the Dial Hope Foundation with a financial donation. Your gifts make this ministry possible!
The German philosopher Immanuel Kant once said that humanity has always been asking three questions: "What can I know? What shall I do? And for what may I hope?" It is that third question that hits right at the heart of our faith. For what may I hope?
Maybe you've wondered about hope watching the news this week. Maybe you've wondered about it if you're struggling in a relationship, or worried about your job or your finances. Maybe, somewhere along the way, you've simply found yourself asking: for what may I hope?
In the book of Jeremiah, God asks a question of his own: "Is anything too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)
The biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann makes the claim that this really is the fundamental question — and that every one of us must answer it, not lightly or easily, because how we answer determines everything else.
If the answer is yes — if we believe there are situations even God cannot reach, circumstances too far gone, brokenness too deep to heal — then hope becomes a fragile, conditional thing. Something we can only risk when the odds look decent. Something we quietly withdraw the moment life gets hard.
But if the answer is no — if nothing, truly nothing, is too hard for God — then hope is not naive optimism. It is not pretending things are fine when they aren't. It is something sturdier than that. It is trust placed in the character of God rather than in the circumstances in front of us.
That is not an easy thing to believe in the middle of a diagnosis, a broken relationship, a financial crisis, or a world that often looks like it is coming apart at the seams. I don't think God expects us to believe it effortlessly. But I do think God invites us to keep asking the question — and to keep listening for the answer that has echoed through scripture for thousands of years.
Is anything too hard for me?
For what may you hope today? Perhaps it begins simply by believing that the answer to Jeremiah's question is no.
Prayer: Gracious God, in the middle of all that worries us, all that feels too hard, all that looks unsolvable — we bring our doubts and our questions to you. Help us to trust that nothing is beyond your reach. Give us hope this day, not because circumstances are easy, but because you are faithful. Amen.
Read more messages
Dial Hope is a 24-hour global telephone and internet ministry providing daily faith-based, non-denominational messages of encouragement, inspiration, and care. We are a resource to help people pause and reflect and pray – and draw back – reconnect to the loving Spirit of God.
Like a stone thrown in a lake that creates ripples, your contributions help Dial Hope’s daily messages ripple out with words of support and inspiration to a wider audience!
If you would like to make a contribution to this ministry you may mail a check to:
Dial Hope Foundation
P.O. Box 953
Sarasota, Florida 34230
Or donate online:
