hope

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." Rom. 15:13

I long for us all to have more hope. This has been on my heart so much lately.  Maybe it is the warmer temperatures, the sounds of birds singing in the morning and the reality that (finally!) real spring is here. Spring is all about hope after all.  You can't miss it.  February does its best to have us believing that winter will never end, but then spring comes gently, and always with the promise of new life, growth, and a reason for hope.

I have been reading in Lamentations.  This is unusual because my default is to skip the sad stuff and jump right to the worship of the Psalms or the stretch and challenge of the New Testament.  But Lamentations, I have recently discovered, is a story of hope.  Here is an account of sorrow, deep discouragement, and pain that rivals Job’s, but not for just one person - for an entire nation.  The author of the book appropriately laments it all.  Then this statement of faith-filled certainty in the worst of circumstances leaves me undone:  

“Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope.  Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end.  They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness!  I say, ‘The Lord is my portion, therefore I will hope in him.’” Lam. 3: 22-24 

If you read Lamentations you will see that it is quite okay to put words to your pain.  Say it out loud.  Life is hard, and we get wounded.  It is not easy to be joyful when circumstances break our hearts.

 

The next thing you will see, is that the breaking is not the end.  I know it can feel like it.  Sorrow and heartache refine us, however.  They strengthen us and fill us with hope if we let them.

In Romans, Paul speaks about the reality of suffering in a way that gives believers courage.  Because of what Jesus has done for us, we can “glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope” (Rom. 5:3-5).  

The same passage in the Message describes the hope-filled life as one of “alert expectancy”.  Don’t you just love that?  This hope, this alert expectancy,  is so much more than positive thinking, dreaming or wishing that good things will happen.   

It is rock solid certainty that God will not disappoint us.  

There is no prosperity gospel here, and I am sorry if you have heard that God's simple plan is to keep you happy and comfortable, and that there is something wrong with your faith if you are not.  He wants you holy and courageous and completely dependent on Him.  The truth is that tough times are the path to perseverance, character and hope.  There are the very things that grow our faith and are part of God's plan to transform us into the image of Jesus.  

Hope is the quality that should define every person who follows Jesus wholeheartedly.  We do not grieve as those who have no hope (1 Thess. 4:13). Friends, we cannot live as those who have no hope either.   

Here things get real.  Our life and attitude should attract others to Christ.  Paul says this clearly:    “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).  The early believers were characterized by radical hope that created curiosity among those they came into contact with, got people talking, and ultimately brought them to saving faith.  They had to be ready with an answer because questions were a guarantee.   Their joy had no explanation other than Jesus. Their hope had no source other than the finished work of Christ.

  

I have to ask it:  Why don’t people ask us more about the hope that we have?  John Piper writes that the answer is probably that we look as if we hope in the same things they do. 

The author of Lamentations writes “Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope.”  What he calls to mind is the “Lord’s faithful love”.  The circumstances were not overflowing with blessing the way we can assume ‘blessing’ will look.  Yours may not be either.  God does not call us to what is easy.  He does call us to faithful, joyful hope.  Can I encourage you to call some things to mind?

 

God is with you, you are not alone.   

God has a purpose for your life.    

He is good.  He is faithful.   

His grace is for you, and His mercies are new every day.