We speak of hope this week. What exactly is this hope? We know that hope is one of the three qualities Paul lists as remaining in life along with faith and love. Hope is essential to us. When Paul is talking about hope, he is thinking of the Hebraic meaning for hope. The Greek meaning has an overtone of uncertainty like our English when we say, “I hope that I see you next year, but am not confident that that will actually happen.” The Hebraic meaning of hope is expectation of good closely tied to trust – confidence in God.
I think the title of an old movie is appropriate to our discussion on hope: “Hope Floats.” Somehow in the midst of the difficult circumstances of our life, hope rises to the top. It is that part of us that looks to the future knowing something good will come out of what we are experiencing. And how do we know something good will come to pass? It is because that something has been promised us by a very reliable Source. That’s the way it was for the prophets of old as they looked to the coming of the Messiah. They had confidence in God and the realization of a long-awaited Hope was born in a manger in Bethlehem.
The struggle is while we wait for the good to come, we stand in a place between the already and the not yet of our lives. It is at times an awkward place to be because of the tension that exists between what has already taken place but is not yet complete. In Romans 8:24 and 25 Paul expresses this not yet quality: “But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait patiently for it.” We know we already have new life in Christ, and yet we know we are not living the way we would like to live in Him. We know that God has already cared for us each day and yet we wait to see how he will supply the needed job. We know that already our relationships have moments of joy and peace, but we have yet to experience the unity we desire. We know our loved one has already gone to be with God, but we are not yet without sorrow.
The tension exists, but in the midst of the tension, hope rises. The hope rises because we have been promised by God, a very reliable Source, that He is not finished – He will accomplish His work in us. When we look back at all he has already accomplished, that gives us faith to march into the future with hope. Even though all is not complete, we will see and taste more of his goodness. Isaiah said “But those who HOPE in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Some translations say, “those who WAIT on the Lord.” Hoping and waiting go together.
If we are lacking hope this holiday, where do we find it? We find it in the small child wrapped in a cloth, lying in a manger. He is Hope personified; the promise of all that is good. He, too, experienced the “already” existing with the “not yet” when he entered time. He came as a babe, Emanuel, God is with us. Even so, as a baby, He was not yet all God had in mind for him. He grew into a man who brought truth and love to this world, and still He had not yet completed his call. He died a cruel death, and one would have thought that all hope was destroyed, but we know the “not yet” that was to come. In his resurrection we have completed hope – hope realized. The hope that started with his birth is realized in his resurrection.
And so we affirm that no matter what we face in this life, there is good to come. Hope rises within us when we take hold of what God has done already and walk into the future of the “not yet.” Hope is His gift to our waiting hearts. Hope is trust in God’s goodness – that out of life’s circumstances, He will bring us to a new place. And one day our hope will be realized beyond all our expectations.
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