Step 2: HOPE

Principle 2 Earnestly believe that God exists, that I matter to Him, and that He has the power to help me recover.

Step 2 We came to believe that a power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

A story of a people in the chains of captivity with no hope…

We know very little about how it came about.  We know it didn’t start off bad.  We know somewhere along the line, what seemed good turned into bondage/slavery.  I’m talking about the nation of Israel in Egypt for 430 years, 30 years good, and 400 years of slavery.  They were in denial, not knowing the One True God and believing the gods of Egypt were no problem to them.  They were powerless, having no way of ending their slavery on their own. 

Exodus 1:8-14

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”  Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh supply cities, Pithom and Raamses.  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were in dread of the children of Israel.

Our addictions are taskmasters just like the Egyptians were to the Israelites.  Their bondage was physical and spiritual; so are our hurts and habits.

H.O.P.E. for the Hopeless

Higher Power –

God knew all about their suffering and enslavement. 

Exodus 3:6-8a

Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God.  And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. ⁸ So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

But God didn’t just know about it, He was about to intervene and bring them out of their bondage and slavery.  He intervened for you too.

1 Cor 15:3-7, 57-58

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve.  After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.  After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles… But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Openness

This is a willingness to come to God through Jesus Christ His Son, even if you were dragged in at first.  Just so long as you come to acknowledge that He is your only Hope.  The Israelites’ only hope was God too.

Exodus 4:28-31

So Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him. ²⁹ Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel. ³⁰ And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. ³¹ So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

They loved the idea of being set free from their slavery and task masters.  Like many of us, they assumed this meant God was just going to make it happen and they would walk out like nothing had ever happened.  But this is not how God operates.  He wants to change us to be like His Son…and that’s a lot of changing!  Even though God warned them that things would get harder before they got better, they didn’t hear that because they didn’t want to hear it. 

Exodus 3:19-20

[God said] But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.  So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.  And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed.

We need to be open to the Truth of Christ and to whatever He is going to do and however He is going to do it; ready to learn from Him all along the way.  That is the process of recovery.

Power to Change

The Israelites they had no power to change anything and just needed to trust God to lead them out.  As soon as things didn’t go as they expected, and it didn’t take long, they began to doubt and complain.  In Exodus 5, Moses and Aaron go into Pharaoh and tell Him God said to let the Israelites God, to which Pharaoh replied, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him?!”  Pharaoh then increased the burden upon the Israelites.  Then other Israelite leaders went back in to Pharaoh and pleaded for mercy and he totally refused them.  The Israelite leaders went to Moses and Aaron and were very angry with them…it didn’t go as the Isrealites had wanted.  Then in Exodus 6 God responds to Moses over all of this.

Exodus 6:1-2, 6-7

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”  And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD…Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the Lord; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.  I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.’”

We can’t change…but Almighty God can change us, breaking the power of addiction, resentment, hurts, and habits as we learn of His love for us and start to love Him back!  Maybe you don’t quite believe that because you’ve not seen it.  Well, what if the reason nothing has changed for you is NOT a lack of God’s power, but a lack of your trust and commitment to follow Him?

Expect Change

The Israelites did at first, expecting God to just make the whole thing go away so they could get on with their lives, but they soon lost that hope and expectation when things didn’t go as they had planned.  But they didn’t listen to Him from the start, when He told them that there would be some hard things along the way; things meant to help build their trust in Him and change their faulty way of thinking.  So too, your recovery will not be easy, immediate, or automatic.  It is a process God leads you through as your learn to trust, follow, and love Him.  Romans 5:1-5 says it much better than I can, “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.  Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Conclusion

My 14 year old son and I moved lots of snow this past week.  It was wet, heavy snow with ¾ inch of ice on top.  I prefer using a shovel for exercise purposes, but with this stuff I agreed to his request of using the snow blower.  The machine did all the heavy work, moving the snow…and it tore it up too!  But the snow blower did nothing until we got it out, then we just followed behind letting it do the heavy work.  God does the heavy lifting of your recovery giving you just enough to build your trust, commitment and love in Him