Recently, I have been teaching my son how to ride his bike. He is naturally a little timid, being prone to taking the safe way and the nonlife threating activity over the daring feats of other young kids. So, for several evenings, we would walk with him as he rode his bike, helmeted up and wearing flame patterned gloves. Even with training wheels, he likes to take it easy and not go too fast.

On the approach back to our driveway, we have to go down a little hill. My son doesn’t like the hill and is convinced the hill doesn’t like him, either. He doesn’t trust the hill and is convinced the hill is up to no good. So, it never fails: when we approach this hill, he cries out for me to grab hold of his bike and control his speed. He is completely able to stop himself with the brakes, but still wants me to be there and hold his bike. If I take my hands off, he cries. It doesn’t matter that he can see me right there, ready to help. He has to see my hand grasping hold of his bike. Him seeing my hand holding on makes him feel safe.

We are the same way with God. We have to know that He is holding on. Without that knowledge, there is not a sense of security or safety. And this is not just head knowledge that God is in control; it is a deep seated trust that God is there and He is holding us in His hands. In fact, when we read our Bibles, it is amazing to see how often the writers wrote about this very thing.

Time and time again, it seems like the authors of the Bible were seeking to let people know that God was there, that He cared, and that He was in action. In Matthew 10, when Jesus is telling His disciples not to fear, He is making the point that God is there: knowing them, watching over them, and caring for them. That is the reason not to fear. In Matthew 6, Jesus is making the point that worry dies in the face of knowing God is currently providing. In Romans, particularly Romans 8, Paul wants them to know that nothing can separate them from God’s love in Jesus Christ. And this means that God is active in everything for our good. In Philippians 1:6, Paul is making the point that we can be assured that God is going to complete what He started. He is there. He cares. He will bring us home. The book of Revelation is really peeling back what we see, to show the larger and greater reality that God is in control and all wrongs will be made right. The whole of the Bible speaks these truths. God is there. God is holding on. Even when we are not aware, God is wrapping us in His arms. I am sure that you could add other passages and verses that point to this incredible fact.

And because of all this, we have hope. Hope is the confident expectation that God has something good coming our way. Hope is the attitude and belief that, no matter how bad our circumstances might seem, we know that God’s got this. Hope is trust in our Savior and Lord. Hope is knowing in our gut and deep in our bones that God is working and active in our lives.

But how can we feed this hope? Often, we can’t see hope within our situations, but we trust that He who gives us hope is there. So how can we feed this belief?

Go to the source and bask in its truth. Listen, read, take in the Scriptures. As we hopefully have seen, they are riddled with this idea. They are filled to overflowing with the mind-boggling truth that God is here with us. His hand never leaves our life.

So read it. Pick it up and read for yourself. Then let it sink in. Marinate your mind in this truth and it will flavor all of you. Then, walk out in faith, living a life of boldness grounded in the certainty of God’s care. Reading, marinating, and living this out enables us to know and see God’s hand in our life.