Hope For the Best

Christine Wehrmeier - photographer

We hope for an early spring

We hope this virus will be short lived.  

We hope that everyone will have enough TP..  

We hope that we will win the lottery ...  

We hope that our pain will be less tomorrow ... 

We hope our cake will turn out .... 

We hope tomorrow is a sunny day 

We hope our kids come to visit 

HOPE - the word 

How often  we use the word in conversation or even in our thought...

We use the word when we want to communicate something  that we 'wish'  will happen or come to pass but we are not sure it will really happen. There is an element of doubt or the unknown. 

Perhaps without really realizing it we allow a measure of that same uncertainty to colour the  NT scripture verses that speak of things we 'hope' for. 

 The Greek word translated 'hope' in our scripture, in the verses that refer to something we have been given in Christ   has a much deeper meaning than how we use or understand the English word  'hope' .  

The Greek word 'hope' means something that is a 'done-deal'  - something we can expect  with confidence because it has already been sent out  with our name on it'.   It is ours, it has been secured, it has been accomplished in full !  

The 'hope' may not yet be fully realized but it is with patience and confidence that we wait for it to come! 

HOPE THAT CAN DISAPPOINT 

I feel so bad for the high school graduating classes of this year .. For 12 years they have looked forward to this celebration.  The girls have their dresses, the parties have been planned - and now they are so unexpectedly cancelled ... Their hopes are so dashed !  Something they counted on, believed in has vanished in a day. The disappointment is sharp! 

The athletes who have trained for so many years -- their one focus of life , their one goal, their one hoped for achievement to win a metal at the games ...  Their hopes too are dashed with the cancellation of the games they never doubted would happen.  All the years of focus on one goal is for naught.  It has dissolved in their faces.through something they had no control over. 

Are we afraid that the things scripture tells us is our 'hope' will also disappoint ?  

HOPE ALWAYS REFERS TO SOMETHING GOOD 

Have you noticed that 'hope' is always connected with something good?  Even in our 'wishing' use of the word we always use  the word to 'hope' for something good.  We never use the word to refer to something we dread or fear will happen. 

  God is good ... always good ... and our 'hope'  in Him always concerns things that are beyond good!  They are VERY good !  

What we hope for is often the thing we cling to, the thing that motivates us to keep going, to keep hanging on, to give us a purpose for living.  How confident we are in what we hope for defines how confidently we do our daily life.

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS GOD HAS GIVEN US TO HOPE IN?

Tit_1:2  in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began, 

We have the 'hope'  --- the done-deal --  of eternal life ...  whatever this earthly life throws at us, our 'hope' of eternal life is solid and secure -  something we can cling to with assurance, because God cannot lie !  

Tit_2:13  looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 

Jesus IS coming back ...  nothing can stop Him, nothing can prevent Him ,  for us we KNOW the best is yet to come and we WILL meet Him in the air when He comes back .. Let people doubt, let people scoff,  I know that know my 'hope' is solid ,  I know He is coming back.  

Heb_10:23  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 

The gospel we believe is true ... it does not matter how science (so called)  contradicts it, how man's wisdom twists it,  how many call it foolish  ---  we HAVE the hope that it is true, that it will hold us up to STAND without wavering because the One who gave us our HOPE is faithful! 

Heb_6:19  This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil, 

'This hope'  here in this verse refers to the privilege we have of entering the very Presence of God -- into the Holy of Holies --  God is our refuge and living in His Presence is the 'anchor of our soul' ....   The world's events, the uncertainty of the times, NOTHING in this life can take away our 'hope' that we have been called into the very Presence of God --- that place that in the OT Tabernacle/Temple only the High Priest could enter one day of the year.   Our 'hope' is that that is our 'home' , our refuge, our place of safety and peace.   

LET HOPE BE YOUR ENCOURAGEMENT

When you have your quiet times in God's Word,  note the verses that speak of our 'hope' and let that 'hope' word settle into your hearts and minds as a solid thing - a promised thing - a reality beyond the frail promises of this world.. because 'hope' is good things given to us by a God who cannot lie and who is forever faithful ! 

TO THINK ABOUT

• What 'hope' promise is your favorite ?  Which one is your go-to anchor ?
• How does what you 'hope'  determine how you live and how you react to things that happen around you  -- such as this coronavirus crisis ?