Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

Yet we all hope for what does not come about:

• I hoped that the Panthers would beat Seattle this year.
• I hoped Joel’s soccer team would win the State Cup last June.
• I hoped to travel with Matthew to India last April.

More seriously:

• I hoped that a friend would grow deeply in his faith over the last six months.
• I hoped that another friend would come to faith in Christ this year.
• I hoped that Kenya would not experience another serious terrorist attack.

I hoped. And yet none of those came to pass.

Is the book of Hebrews telling me, “Hope harder! If you just have a strong enough conviction, such things will happen!”

No. Not at all.

As the chapter proceeds, the author tells us of men and women who had such faith, such assurance of things hoped for. Some of them saw God work in miraculous ways on their behalf in this life:

[They] stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.  Women received back their dead by resurrection (Hebrews 11:33b-35a).

Others seemed to be complete failures, losing everything:

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.  Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated – of whom the world was not worthy – wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth (Hebrews 11:35b-38).

Yet the author confirms that all of these were “commended through their faith” (v39). All of them – both those who saw miracles and those who lost all – had the “assurance of things hoped for.”

Really? Even when they were sawn in two?

Yes. As my friend Charley Handren puts it, “You can be sure of what you hope for when you hope for what is sure.”

So, no, we can’t be sure of our hopes in sporting events, or future travel, or a friend’s spiritual growth this year, or safety from evil acts. We can and should pray for the more important of those hopes. But God makes no promise about them.

So how can we hope for what is sure? By placing our hope in what God Himself guarantees. For He is faithful – and “it is impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).

So consider these sureties:

• The LORD, the LORD, [is] a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty (Exodus 34:6-7).
• All the promises of God find their Yes in [Jesus Christ]. (2 Corinthians 1:20)
• According to his great mercy, [God] has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. (1 Peter 1:3-5)
• “This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11)
• For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

So don’t place your hope in your skills or your money or your reason or your family or your health or your education. All of those will fail you. None of those is sure. Don’t even place your hope in the steadfastness of your faith. Your faith itself is not what is sure. You can only be sure of what you hope for when you hope for what is sure.

Instead, the object of your faith must be sure. And God tells us time and again: “Trust Me. Trust My promises. Trust in My sovereign care. Trust that I have a plan. I am the faithful God. I keep my covenant to a thousand generations of those who love Me (Deuteronomy 7:9). You may suffer. You may lose all in this life. But even when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death you need fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). So fear not, My little flock; it is My good pleasure to give you the Kingdom (Luke 12:32).”

Hope for what is sure.

(Charlie Handren is Pastor of Glory of Christ Fellowship in Elk River, Minnesota, a fellow church in the Treasuring Christ Together Network. We were together earlier this week for TCT Network meetings at Grace Church Memphis, where Charlie spoke from Hebrews 11.)