On Hope

Hope is the recourse of the faithful.

Let me explain.

We are given reason to hope in our faith. Not because of the act of having faith, but because of the One in which our faith is placed. That is to say, His promises, powers, consistency, and love give us a reason to have hope for the future in the first place. When we cannot see what is ahead of us, when there seems to be no escape from the mire that we have become solidly rooted in, we let our faith give us hope that there will be a way out. It is our recourse by way of, when all else fails, it is there to fall back on, and we know this because of the promise we find through out faith.

Hope is the inextinguishable candle that lights the darkness. 

And yet, at the same time, it is so much more. Hope is a reason to move forward, to hold on when the odds are not in your favor. It is the strength of those that have nothing else, because hope cannot be matched for the simple power of motivation that it holds. Furthermore, to hope is an exercise of the Spirit; Lamentations 3:26 says, “It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

But returning to my initial statement, I think that it is important to more closely examine the roots of hope, and why it is so different for those who have faith.

For the man who does not believe, hope may still be come by. It is not a singular attribute of those who have found salvation. But it is a hope of a different sort which that man finds. Whereas our hope stems ultimately from faith (to be addressed more in just a bit), his comes only by what is temporary and fallible. He may have hope by a person, but people can fail or change. He may put hope in a system of some sort, be it government or something else, but where power is established and dispersed, corruption pursues. The face is that man’s hope in that which is of the world may in fact come to pass, but what is the result afterward? Where does that hope go, or the energy which was put into it? And what happens if that which the man had hoped so dearly for does not come to pass at all, or comes about and the result is lackluster? 

Hope in worldly powers is often misplaced, and just as soon it is replaced. Hope, in the end, can only go so far as the entity to which the hope has been ascribed. If the reason for that hope changes or disappears, the hope dies, leaving the man who dared hope in the first place more despondent than when he first began.

Do not take this the wrong way though, because I am by no means saying that hope has no reason outside of faith. I am making a comparison of reliability not purpose. Many of the greatest stories that we tell, whether fact or fiction, revolve around a central theme of hope.

My point is just this: hope built upon anything other than our faith is not longer assurance, but liability. It is a similar idea to the parable of the man who built his house on the sand and the man who built his house on the rock.

To bring a bit of a happier tone, let’s look back to that original point shall we? One of my favorite passages from Romans explains the concept rather well:

"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." [5:1-5]

Paul illuminates the reason for hope with his words. By the Holy Spirit, who is in us, we have the love of God poured out into our lives. This love is what allows us to glory in our tribulations, which in turn with give rise to hope. By our faith we are filled.

We know that there is a power that is in the world, yet not of the world, and that it is greater than all else. When the faithful man is found in want, he will always find that he has an assurance upon which he can cast his hopes. 

Note that word: assurance. It is confidence that what we have been given reason to hope for will come to pass, and it is what has been given to us through the gift of salvation. Whether we see the result ourselves or not.

Look, God didn’t save the world so that we would continue to live in darkness, but so that we would see that He is the One always there, even in the dark times, holding the candle that will not be put out.