The only hope you can have (without anything else supporting that hope) is in Christ like mystdancer50 and others have said, because with everything else hope is not enough.
But to answer your question;
no, hope is no good if there’s nothing to fulfill it...because hope is no different than a wish list. Imagine shopping in an online store, and there are several items you’re interested in having – but you don’t have the money and don’t know when you’d ever afford to get them. You add them to your “wish list”. Now this wish list isn’t guaranteeing you’ll get anything, it’s just a list of things you hope to one day receive. But the reality is you may *never* receive them because wishes aren’t real...something else has to happen in order for you to attain the things you want.
Likewise God isn’t a genie who grants wishes (not saying you believe that or implied that; just stating it). And this reality is what you’re noticing when you say, “if you hope for something better...and it’s not delivered”. Well if hope is all you had it’s no different than you adding what you wanted on a wish list only to expect to receive it. Functionally it will never happen. No...hope is not enough when seizing the promises of God. But add “faith” to it like Pipp mentions and Cee explains, and it’s a different thing altogether.
Faith is NOT hope. And it’s unfortunate that these words get interchanged often (I’m guilty of doing it now and again). Faith is not hope. For reference let me just add Hebrews 11:1 and then give you examples of its practical application.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
This is the KJV version, but other versions use the words:
Confidence and
Assurance. Notice that from this passage it wouldn’t make sense to understand faith as “the hope of things hoped for”?? So faith is not hope, but the Assurance; Confidence; Substance of the hoped for thing. So what is this passage actually saying? It took months for me to understand it both academically and through experience, but in modern terms it’s saying that “
Faith is the receipt of the thing you hope for that you don’t yet have”.
Faith is the “evidence”; it’s the “proof of purchase”.
Going back to the online shopping example; let’s say you came across some extra money and finally can buy one of the things on your wish list. So you purchase it from the online store. (Usually) immediately, you receive a receipt of your purchase by email and/or a thank you screen. That receipt has all of the evidence of your purchase, proving you *rightfully expect* to receive the thing you hope to receive.
The thing you desire is not yet in your possession, you have yet to see it as a reality, but there’s no doubt in your mind that it’s on its way...because you have the evidence. There’s ABSOLUTELY no reason to question whether you may or may not receive the thing you’re waiting for. You KNOW it’s coming, so there’s only anticipation. You have proof something is ALREADY yours, it’s true...it’s just a matter of time until the world catches up with that truth (and delivers to you what’s yours).
We don’t ever think about all of this “truth” going on when we do something as simple as make an online purchase. But this is why we get receipts. Now imagine making a purchase online and not receiving any form of proof of purchase...it’s just money gone from your account. Suddenly there’s room for a nagging fear to fester; “is it coming? Did I just get stiffed? Is the ‘authority’ I just conducted business with trustworthy?”
Without the receipt, you have no lawful proof to receive anything you hope to have.
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The book of Hebrews is great for explaining all of what faith truly is.
Now while Christians have an expectation of suffering and self-sacrifice (as we must take up our crosses), we also have an inheritance (being co-heirs according to the promise). And while there are rules to what all we can ask for, God said that when you pray for things or have faith in things to DO NOT DOUBT (Matthew 21:21) and believe that you
have received [past tense] it (Mark 11:24) and it’ll be yours because it proves God exists (Hebrews 11:6), and that’s how he’s glorified. Both of these are saying the same thing; you must have the proof/receipt of (i.e. “faith in”) what you asked for
*before* you get it [this rule isn’t anything new to understand. Like I said we experience it every time we buy something online that needs to be delivered]. Christ already paid for it, but you must prove
*you* have the receipt of his purchases.
Of course we must specifically understand what all Christ paid for (and what he didn’t pay for), but even when we do understand; if YOU don’t have the proof of it, you can’t expect to receive anything you hope for.
Without proof, don't even look for it because it isn't on it's way.
This is why scripture also says that “without faith it’s IMPOSSIBLE to please God”. No amount of bible study, church attendance, or prayer will matter if you don’t have the “proof” (beforehand) that God will provide the thing you asked him to provide.
[As an aside: this is why it’s unfortunate that those who demand proof of God’s existence before having faith in him will *never* get it...because God demands *faith first* in all things.]
It took Abraham a lifetime to receive his son...years upon years...and that time was God’s way of proving Abraham had his “receipt”. At first, Abraham proved he didn’t possess the receipt (with creating Ishmael), so God made Abraham wait longer...but he finally received what he was promised once his faith/receipt was proven. Then it took MORE faith to believe that even if he killed his son for God (after finally getting him), that somehow God would still honor his promise to have Abraham’s son become a great nation. Only then was his faith rewarded.
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I’m sorry for typing so much, but the point must be driven home...because it’s the difference between a branch growing in faith and a branch that’s withering in doubt and soon to be cut off the tree. And I feel the pain of many of God’s people walking around in circles in this wilderness called life, with only a few having the faith to enter into the promise land and defeat their enemies that appear as giants to them. And even though God saved his people from their bondage with the blood of the lamb, he *swore* NONE OF THEM would experience the kingdom he had in store for them because they didn't have faith in him. They didn't have the proof they deserved to have what he wanted to give them, so he let them wander in circles in their wilderness until they all died.
It’s RIGHT THERE...the promise is right in front of you, but we have to have faith in the impossible; we have to have the receipt *before* delivery. We have to cut ourselves off from the waters from Adam (meaning, how most of mankind thinks about life) and cross over the Jordan into it...and once you do, “nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).
I promise to God.
