Louie Giglio - Unshakable Hope Is Right In Front of You
The subtitle of «The One Thing» is «Starting an Unpredictable Year with Unshakable Hope,» and I don’t know about you, but we’re barely through January, and I would say it’s already been an unpredictable year. Collectively, but I’m guessing for a lot of people in the gathering today, it’s been an unpredictable year for you personally. There are already things in your story that you hadn’t planned in your calendar—things that have come into your journey that you hadn’t accounted for, budgeted for, prepared for, or anticipated. And to think that this subtitle could be so audacious as to state «unshakable hope» is something! It’s 100% going to be an unpredictable year—I think everyone would agree on that. 2025 is going to be an unpredictable year, but how bold to say there could be unshakable hope.
Last week, we looked at a life verse for many people: Jeremiah 29:11. We learned that when we zoomed out from «I know the plans I have for you,» declares the Lord, we saw the bigger story, and that hope became even more robust than what was stated just in 29:11. We ended that message last week by saying that the hope ultimately is not a place—in other words, it’s not the plan, and it’s not the location. A lot of us will say, «I would have hope if God would show me the plan,» or «I would have hope if God would get me back home to the place I’m now exiled from.» But what He went on to say from verse 12, following verse 11, is that hope is not a place. There is a place; God does have a plan for our lives. He has a plan for your life; He does want to bring you into that place that He has for you, or bring you back to that place from wherever you’ve drifted.
But notice what He says in verse 12: «Then you will call on me and come and pray to me.» Notice the shift: «You will call on me and you will come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,» declares the Lord, «and I will bring you back from captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,» declares the Lord, «and I will bring you back to the place.» So, He does want to bring you to the place; God’s got a good and spacious place for you, and He wants to bring you into that place. But He wants you to understand that it’s not about the place; it’s about the person who is bringing you into the place.
The hope isn’t a destination; the hope God has for your life is a relationship with Him, and that’s the promise. The promise isn’t just, «I’ll get you somewhere.» The promise is Him. We see this in the larger title of this collection, «The One Thing.» There are five places in Scripture where we see «the one thing,» and one of those I want us to look at today because it helps us understand that it’s about a relationship with God that’s so substantial and real that it gives us unshakable hope when everything around us is uncertain. That’s found in Psalm 27; this is one of «the one things» in Scripture. I wonder if David is about to tell us his one thing. I wonder what your one thing is.
I have always been captivated by the verse we’re about to read. I remember being a college student at Georgia State, experiencing a revival with Jesus. I would walk from Georgia State to my job at Philips Arena, which is now State Farm Arena, and I’d walk down Marietta Street, thinking about this verse we’re about to read. It absolutely captured me in that moment. When I began preaching and teaching in my 20s, I would go to youth groups, lock-ins, and youth retreats, and I was preaching about knowing God out of this verse right here. I was captivated by it because David said, «Of all the things I need from the Lord, I’m a king, I’m a warrior, I’m a leader, and of all these things I need, there’s one thing that rises above it all.»
Just before we look at David’s one thing, what is your one thing? Just think about it. If God let you come to Him directly and literally in this moment and said, «I will do one thing, whatever you ask me for 2025 for your life. I’ll do it, but you only get one thing,» you’d probably think, «Okay, I’m going to need some time with that. I’ll get back to you. Come back around tomorrow.» Or maybe you already know what the one thing is. What would be your one thing if you could ask God for only one thing for 2025? David tells us what his is in verse 4 of Psalm 27: «One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life.»
Now, I thought you said, Lou, that it’s not about place; you said it’s about the person, and that feels like a place right there. And it is, and we’ll talk about that in a moment. But David was living in a different day, and in David’s day, when he said «house of the Lord,» he didn’t mean a specific building. He was talking about the temple as a spatial representation of God on Earth. He said, «That’s where I want to be; I want to get to the place where God meets man. That’s where I want to dwell all the days of my life.» I love that! That challenges me today. It’s not like I can make it a couple of Sundays. He said, «I want to dwell in that place all the days of my life.»
But here’s what I’m aiming for; here’s my one thing: «I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.» That feels like going back to Jeremiah: «Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.» And here’s David saying, «This is my one thing, Lord; I need some help with this. I am definitely leaning on you for this, and I’m definitely going to be, in every way I can, clinging to you for this. But here’s my one thing: if I get one thing, I’m going to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life— not just to be in the building. I want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord, and I want to seek Him in His temple.» I want to know the person who is hope when everything around me is uncertain.
What is this gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking Him in His temple? What does that have to do with hope? David has already told us in verse 1. The Lord, and David went through so much—so much trial, so much up and down. His life was on display for all of us now in history. He had good days and bad days, he got it right, and he got it wrong. He faced a lion, he faced a bear, he faced Goliath, and he faced people within his own inner circle. He was a valiant leader who faced all kinds of challenges. But here’s where his hope was: «The Lord is my light and my salvation.» In other words, it is a person who is my light and a person who is my salvation. Therefore, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life—not my relationships, not my alliances, not my finances, not my gifts, not my experiences, not my wisdom. God Himself is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
Then he comes down, and we’re like, «That sounds like what I need.» This whole thing about gazing on the beauty of the Lord—I’m not sure about that yet, seeking Him in His temple. But look, you only have to go one sentence further. Verse 5: «For in the day of trouble.» Has anybody been in the day of trouble? «He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His sacred tent and set me high upon a rock.» What David is saying is it’s possible for us to know Jesus in such a way, to be so connected to Him in such a way, that in any circumstance, our hope doesn’t fade.
And the way you get there is practical, and I want to talk practical for a little bit today. How do we get to this one thing? Brother Lawrence called this «the practice of the presence of God.» Has anybody heard of that little book? A few people have. It’s a compilation of his meditations, thoughts, and writings published in 1692. What Brother Lawrence was encouraging was a constant communion with God—a gazing on the beauty of the Lord—a heartfelt connection with God that transformed our very state of being. That’s what God’s offering today. That’s why I say this message is profound today. These practical steps are simple, but the outcome could change the temperature of our lives this year.
There are a few practical things I want to lead us to. Number one: if we’re going to know the practice of the presence of God, we have to come to the place where we seek God’s face more than we seek God’s hand. Does that make sense to anyone? If I’m not careful, God becomes utilitarian to me. You say, «What does that mean? That sounds complicated.» It means that if I can handle it, I handle it; if it escalates to something I can’t manage, I get God involved. If I know how to figure it out, I just do it. If I don’t know how to figure it out, I call a friend and ask them to pray for me. If I can pay for it, I will pay for it, but if I don’t know how to pay for it, I’ll call on the Lord who provides.
And that’s not the relationship God hoped for; He wants more than just what you can do—He wants you. So, we’ve got to have a mental shift. Let’s make a mental shift right now. In 2025, I will seek the face of God before I seek the hand of God. Do I need the hand of God? Does anybody need the hand of God? I do. Do I need help? Do I need to be delivered? Do I need to be protected? Do I need guidance? Do I need to be held? Amen to all of that. But before I put God in the role of «what can you do for me?» I want to put God in the role of «I just want to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and seek You— seek not what you can do for me.»
This is what David said; it’s right here in the text. A few verses down, he says: «My heart says of you, 'Seek his face.'» Oh, come on, somebody! And the response is, «Your face, O Lord, I will seek.» I don’t know who this quote is attributed to, but someone said, and I’ve always loved this: «If you seek God’s hand—if your whole thing is, 'I need to know what God can give me, can He point and lead me, can He hold and protect me? ' if that’s all you’re seeking is His hand, then you’re going to miss His face. But if you seek His face, you’ll get His hand also.»
The second thing, which is similar, is that there has to be another paradigm shift. A paradigm shift is when you take the whole way that you do whatever you do and do it a different way. This shift is from simply the Word of God to the God of the Word. I wasn’t expecting any response right there, and I’ve talked too long, so I expected zero. This is the Living Word of God, and the Living Word of God is God-breathed. The Word became flesh; John 1 says that. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Jesus is the Word of God, so this is our lifeline—it’s everything to us.
But if we’re not careful, what happens is it becomes a book of truths and principles. Our focus is on God’s Word, and it should be, but it should lead us beyond the word of God to the God of the Word. To put it in more New Testament terms, beyond just the teachings of Jesus to the Jesus of the teachings—so that I don’t end up having a nugget for the day and missing Him. I was thinking about this point and it took me all the way back to the late '80s. I know that’s terrible, and I am one of the older people here—maybe the oldest. It took me back to that time when I would fly places to speak, not very often, but I was, at that point, driving my family from Houston to my family in Atlanta. We would do that drive back and forth; there was no flying back in those days.
But I was flying somewhere on this occasion, probably to speak at some youth event. I was sitting in the airport gate, and I knew a little bit about NBA players because I had worked for the Hawks during college. I kept the visiting team locker room, so I set up the locker room for guys like Magic Johnson and Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. I mean, that was the golden age of the NBA, if you will, before Michael Jordan. I looked across the gate and there was a small group of players sitting there whose team had just won the NBA Championship—the Detroit Pistons. They were called «The Bad Boys.» If you’re an NBA person from way back, you might know what I’m talking about right now.
A little group of them was sitting there, and this was before celebrity culture had really taken off. I recognized them immediately. One of them is a Hall of Famer, one of the nicest guys I ever had a chance to meet while working with NBA players—a class guy and phenomenal player. While he was just sitting there, I was about to say something; we were at the airport gate. But the weirdest thing was, there was a guy sitting in front of me, holding up a newspaper. Now I brought this newspaper because I was going to tell this story, and I know a lot of you have never seen a newspaper. So, I brought this for the young crowd up close here. This is actually printed on paper.
There’s a guy reading the paper; he’s holding it up like this. I’m sitting about right here, and the dude is sitting about right there. The newspaper is USA Today, and across the top half is an article about the Pistons just winning the NBA Championship. I learned from some eavesdropping—something I’m pretty adept at—that they were on their way to a friend’s private event in his hometown, flying to a small town in Louisiana. The guy is reading the paper, and the photo is of a player holding the NBA Championship trophy. This big headline, and he’s just reading away. And I didn’t say anything; I didn’t want to be that guy.
But I always thought to myself, «What if the guy had just put the paper down? The guy you’re reading about is sitting right in front of you.» Obviously, it’s an illustration, but I wonder if things would be different in our hope quotient if we weren’t just looking for a verse on hope, but at some point God help me, we put the paper down and realize that the person who spoke to us in the verse about hope is in the room with us right now! The person who spoke about hope is with us. When He said, «I am the God of all hope,» can we really count on that today? Because I need you.
Then, my message for the rest of the day isn’t, «Wow, I got an incredible insight in my Bible study today; praise God for that study.» What if the message is, «I had the most phenomenal time with Jesus today through His Word»? I wasn’t just getting random insights; I was in His Word knowing that if I put the paper down, the God of the Word of God is in the room—in the hospital room, in the «I can’t get out of bed today» room, in the delivery room, in the «we just closed the biggest deal in our company’s history» conference room. God is in the place! It’s a paradigm shift.
Number 3: To get to this practical place where knowing Him is our one thing, and that impacts everything about our ability to hope, we have to embrace the greatest promise of God. We have to know what the greatest promise of God is. But then we have to embrace it. If I ask you today what you think God’s greatest promise to you is—this is just me; this isn’t officially written down anywhere as the greatest promise of God. I can’t think of anything in Scripture that’s more powerful than this: «I am with you.»
You might say that sounds nice, but I was kind of hoping for a more detailed plan. Of course, we all hope for that. That does sound nice, but I was hoping there might be a diagram included or something. Here’s how you’re going to get from here to there, but His promise is simply, «I am with you.» Isaiah says it this way in Isaiah 41: «So do not fear.» Say it with me if you can see it: «Do not fear.» Why? «For I am with you.» Not, «Do not fear because A, B, and C.» No! «Do not fear. I am with you.» Do not be dismayed. «I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.»
Then, Jesus, at the end of Matthew 28, is giving the greatest mission in the world. This is the mission; this is it. He says, «All authority in heaven and on Earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations—a huge worldwide vision, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.» So, I’ve got all authority in heaven, and all authority on Earth, and with that authority, I’m sending you out to take this story to the ends of the age and to see lives changed and empty graves. It sounds hopeful!
But how? What’s the plan? «Oh, by the way… and surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.» This is what He was trying to say to Moses. We talk about this all the time around Passion. Seeing the plight of His people, He says, «I indeed have seen the misery of my people. I’ve heard them crying; I’m concerned about their suffering. So, I’ve come down to rescue them. And not only am I going to rescue them, but I’m going to lead them into a good and spacious land.»
The cry of the Israelites has reached me. «I’ve seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them, so now go.» That’s where it all changed for Moses! I love the fact that you’ve heard me; you’ve come down; you’re concerned; you’re moving. You’re going to deliver; you’re going to lead us to a great land. But then it all shifts. That all sounds very hopeful; it’s like Pastor Grant in my mind saying, «You should get your hopes up!» I’ve heard; I’m concerned; I’m on it; I’m moving; I’m going to deliver; I’m involved—get your hopes up!
Those hopes are way up here, and then in one second He says, «Now go.» I’m sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out. As soon as He says that, all the hope we had dissipates, just like that. It’s like when God comes to us and says, «I promise you,» and suddenly in one little turn we think, «Oh wait a minute, I’m not sure I can do that. Oh wait a minute, I don’t think I can do it. I’m not sure I’m the right person. I don’t have the confidence to do that,» and all the hope dissipates right there.
So how do you get the hope back? You find out what the hope was rooted in to start with. God said probably one of my top ten favorite verses in Scripture: «I will be with you.» Sorry, Moses, you’re the agent. Deliverance in the promised land is a result, but the promise was, «I will be with you.» That’s what He’s promising you right now. The situation might not change today, amen, but He’s saying, «I am here.» No one else may be present, but He’s telling you today that I am here.
I woke up this morning thinking about a friend of mine, someone who’s known to our church and has been going through a hard few days or weeks. They were on my heart as soon as I woke up today. I texted him and said, «Hey, I just wanted you to know that when I woke up today, I was thinking about you, and I know a lot of people are thinking about you. Even more people than you can imagine are probably thinking of you and praying for you today. I just need you to know that God is saying to you today, 'I am here.'»
His situation is exactly the same today as yesterday. I can’t offer anything like, «Hey, everything’s going to change.» His situation is irreversible, but there’s a promise still in the irreversible situation that you’re in today: «I am here.» Things may not get better—in fact, they might get worse, but I am here. Yes, there are challenges ahead, but I am here. I know you feel abandoned—and maybe it’s not that you feel abandoned; maybe you really are abandoned—but I need you to know today that I am still here.
I know your loved one is gone, but I am here. I know you can’t see the way out, but I am here. I know you feel like you’re too far gone to ever get back, but I just need you to know that as far gone as you are, I am here. You did not outrun God; you did not outrun me. I am still with you; I am here. That’s God speaking today.
I know you feel like you can’t go one more step, but I’m here. I know you feel like you can’t carry it, but I’m here, and I can carry it and carry you. I am here! It’s the greatest promise that God has given you: «I will never leave you; I will never forsake you—in the brightest day and the darkest night, in the greatest joy and the greatest pain, I am with you.»
The hope, friends, is not in a plan; the hope is in the reality that God is here. Just quickly, as we close: Number 4: I just want to encourage you to constantly acknowledge Him. Brother Lawrence, in that little book «The Practice of the Presence of God,» said we should fix ourselves firmly in the presence of God by conversing all the time with Him. We should feed our souls with a lofty conception of God and derive great joy from being His by conversing all the time with God. This should be our goal—not just in the majestic moments, but in the mundane moments where I strive to be in unbroken conversation with the Almighty in the things that matter to Him and the things that don’t.
I shared about my revival experience from high school to college when I still dreamt of tennis as my life. I would spend hours a day with a ball machine, a coach, or another player, and I learned that Jesus didn’t despise the wall—or hit the ball back and forth for hours to build muscle memory. I learned that when I said to Him, «I’m so excited to go to the wall with you today,» He didn’t respond, «Are you kidding me? I’m the King of Kings; I don’t do walls.»
If you want to intercede, I’ll come for that, but are you kidding me? You want to walk your dog? That’s awesome. You’re folding laundry? You’re doing a spreadsheet? You’re going to redo the shingles on your house today? I’ll send Peter. No! He wants you, and He wants to be in whatever it is! I think, «I’m going to go to Sonic Drive-thru; would you like anything?» Just kidding! I know. It would be weird. I’ll have one, and Jesus will have one too.
But if you don’t know He’s in there, when going through the drive-thru, you might be missing it. When the wind blows, your hope is going to evaporate! David said, «Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for you are with me.» Not, «He is with me"—"You are with me.»
He made the shift; he matured. He grew from God reminding him, «I am with you,» to «You are with me.» «Oh, fear no evil!» Who is your first call? Good or bad, who is your first call? «Oh my word, I got to call—» I want so badly to get to a place in my life where my first call is Jesus. «I can’t believe this just happened; thank you for being with me. I’m about to call someone else, but I need you.» That’s a shift, and you’ve got to make it.
Number five: Give your cares and dreams to Him one by one. I did an interview with Max Lucado a few months ago that we released as we’re dropping a new podcast this week. I asked him: «Max, if you don’t know, is maybe the most prolific Christian author over a lot of lifetimes. What rhythms do you have that keep you connected with God?» He said, «Well, Louie, I went downstairs this morning and sat on my couch where I meet with the Lord, opened His Word, and while sitting there, I gave everything I’m doing today individually to Jesus, including this conversation I’m having with you.»
That’s what it looks like when the one thing is moving into your heart! I would encourage you to get to the end of the day and do the same thing: tell Him again, «I can’t fix any of this stuff or change anything in my life while I’m asleep, but you can. So I give you this, and I need to give you her, and I need to give you them, and I need to give you all of it!» Name it. Start the day; give it to Him. End the day; give it to Him.
Lastly, affirm His character by faith in every moment; that’s the gaze—that’s what the gaze is all about. This word «gaze» actually is a Hebrew word that means to behold. In fact, your Bible—you’re holding it in your lap or on your phone—may say «behold"—to behold the beauty of the Lord. I love that because we got all off on this a while back, but God’s name is «I Am.» It’s the verb «to be.» The present tense form of the verb «to be» really means «be.»
So when we behold, we hold «be.» We’re gazing at the beauty of the Lord, saying, «I want to behold.» As I’m going through the day, I’m remembering His characteristics and I’m just praising Him, no matter what the circumstance, because we’re connected in this conversation. I say, «God, I want to thank you right now and praise you that you’re strong. I want to praise you right now that you already know how this is going to end up—you already know the outcome. I praise you right now that you love me! The circumstance doesn’t look super loving, but I know that you love me, and I praise you that you are trustworthy. I want to praise you right now that you’re not afraid, 'cause I’m tipping towards afraid right now. But I praise you that you’re with me, and you’ve never been afraid. You don’t even know what it feels like to remotely be afraid, and you are with me right now. The unafraid God is with me in this moment, and I praise you, God, that you are working, 'cause you’re always working, even when I don’t feel it. You’re working, and I praise you that you have a plan, even though I don’t know what it is; you have a plan.»
That’s what it means to behold the beauty of the Lord. You’re looking at His character; you’re praising Him; you’re lifting it up. As you do that, your hope stabilizes in the character of God. «One thing I’ve asked of the Lord, and that’s what I’m going to seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze…» Lord, give us grace to gaze on the beauty and to seek Him in His temple. Tim Keller once said, «You should never go to God because He is useful. Just stay with Him; go because He is beautiful.» Yet there’s nothing more useful than finding God beautiful.