INCUBATE YOUR HOPE

Incubators are scary. We know incubators as environments for infants with complications. An incubator is a highly specialized machine designed to create a carefully monitored environment for neonatal patients in a NICU. Working in a hospital, I must admit that this is one of the places I am afraid of.

Treading down those halls, machines beeping and seeing little beautiful babies makes my heart drop and at the same time swell with hope. The reason being that incubators are environments of hope. They offer glimpses of happy beginnings. An incubator offers protection from germs, allergens, noises and light that can cause harm. While it is no mothers desire to have their newborn go into an incubator instead of their arms, it is paramount to acknowledge the safe space that an incubator is when it comes to nurturing the babies health i.e those born prematurely, those with breathing problems or undeveloped organs. An incubator can be adjusted to accomodate the babies needs and because of this, infants have greater chances of survival. An incubator houses a lot of functional equipments to feed a baby, e.g. the IVs for medication, food and delivering drugs. There are many types of incubators but I will not bore you with the details.

“Hope itself is like a star- not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity. ”

― C.H. Spurgeon

Hope isn’t new to us. We know hope as the anticpation and expectation of what is to come even in the seasons of adversity. We have hope for various things we desire to see accomplished. Our hope for these stem from hope in God (Psalm 62:5–6)  “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God!” (Psalm 42:5,11)

Hoping isn’t an easy thing. Being visual and calculative human beings, we can fall into the trap of despair because we see things as they are and not what they could be, forgetting that we walk not by sight but by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7) and that what we see is temporary (2 Corinthians 4:18). Bibilical hope is a confident expectation and desire for something good in the future.

“We were saved in hope. If we see what we hope for, that isn’t hope. Who hopes for what they already see? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it with patience.” — Romans 8:24–25

 

“Bibilical hope does not only desire something good for the future-it expects it to happen.” (Desiring God)

While there are many examples of hope in the Bible, I am biased towards Abraham. His, is a story we will sing about tirelessly. It was a situation at it ‘s extreme and yet he hopes  . Paul in Romans, outlines the extent to which Abraham hoped. “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told,” (Romans 4:18) It was against human logic to hope. There he was almost 100 years old and his wife past child bearing age and yet the promise he had received was his source of confidence. Abraham is the father of faith because of what he clinged to and his faith mashed up with the aspect of hope causes me to agree with John Piper who says, “Whenever faith in God looks to the future, it can be called hope. And whenever hope rests on the word of God, it can be called faith.”

HOPE UNDER ATTACK

Just like there is a measure of faith in each of us, so is there hope. Unfortunately, because of all that we are exposed to , we face the threat of losing it thus the need to incubate. Like an infant with complications in the NICU facing potential threats, our hope is under attack from comments and opinions, unstable foundations when we do not stand on God’s word and misaligned focus. When we lose hope, it never happens in an instance, it is progressive of what we have been exposed to. 

Just as an infants incubator is well equipped to preserve and restore an infants health, your hope should be incubated to keep you standing in the place of faith. The following details some of the connectors to your hope incubator:

1.The Word of God: This will grant you stability, it will remind you of what God says. It will be to you what an IV is to the infant.Connecting you to God through His voice and keeping your supply of truth full even though the facts of reality be overwhelming. 

“Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures.” Romans 15:4

2. Prayer: Going hand in hand with the word of God, prayer is a stabalizer. Prayer will make you shift your focus from present circumstances and usher you into a space of viewing things eternally and with hope. Prayer is the glue that joins the word you receive and the way you live

“Let’s hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, because the one who made the promises is reliable.”  Hebrews 10:23

3. Community. An infant in the NICU, though unconscious and unaware of the surrounding  ,enjoys the company of other infants in the NICU. Same goes for us, when we are surrounded by people who whisper wise counsel and help stir the fire, we become those whose hope intertwine and we can remain steadfast. 

Incubating your hope means making a conscious effort to keep away from things and people that may destroy it. Incubating your hope means you rely on God as your doctor.; that He is in charge and will work out all the conditions necessary to bring about a physical manifestation of the promise you are expecting. Incubating your hope means you trust the process and you wait for however long it takes. Incubating your hope means you will watch other people come out of situations and you will celebrate them knowing that God is in the neighborhood. Incubating your hope means you learn the art of discretion and you do not place yourself in the place of inviting opinions from people instead of God.

Hope is refreshing. Guard it. 

May you rest in the assurance that though it tarries, it shall surely come and in all things, may God always get the glory. Even though it doesn’t get to fruition, it is better to die without the manifestation of the promise but having hoped for it and walked in faith. Just like the heroes of faith , who albeit receiving all the promises never saw it . We live in joy when we hope and I am intent on living a joyful life and having little pieces of heaven extended to me. 

"All these people died still believing what God had promised them. They did not receive what was promised, but they saw it all from a distance and welcomed it. They agreed that they were foreigners and nomads here on earth." (Hebrews 11:13)

“Faith is the key that gives us the treasuries of heaven.”

(Bishop JB Masinde)

May God strengthen you in the waiting room and may you rest in the promise of Romans 5:3–5 “But not only that! We even take pride in our problems, because we know that trouble produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope. This hope doesn’t put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.” God is making something out of you as you wait and hope!

You are light and you are so loved. Stay Anchored and Keep His light Shining Through.