Almost by definition, hope is most beneficial when things today appear hopeless, wouldn't you agree? The problem is, though, that when the going's tough, that sense of hope inevitably seems to elude us.

Romanian pastor Richard Wurmbrand was arrested in 1948 and imprisoned for fourteen years under the brutal Communist regime. He was tortured, kept in solitary confinement for three years in an underground cell without light or sound, and forbidden even to pray aloud.

Yet in his memoir Tortured for Christ, he wrote of singing hymns in his cell, composing sermons in his mind, and rejoicing in the presence of Jesus even as his body wasted away. "Alone in my cell, cold, hungry, and in rags," he recalled, "I danced for joy every night."

Was he crazy? Not at all. You see, just like the Apostle Paul (who wrote many of the books of the New Testament while in prison), his hope wasn't rooted in his dark and desperate circumstances but in the living Christ. Two thousand years ago, in one of those letters, Paul writes this:

Romans 12:12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer. (NRSV)

The problem with hoping that our circumstances will one day (soon!) get better is that they may not. Those financial troubles could go from bad to worse. That cancer diagnosis could be the end – we all die sometime. That happens.

But when your hope is in Christ, you can be absolutely certain that one day you will find yourself in His Presence – without sickness, without pain, without tears – for all eternity.

That's why you can rejoice in hope. So, dance for joy in your rags … when you're cold, when you're hungry, when it's dark. Dance!

That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.