I Hope I Hope I Hope I Hope

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11:1.

What do you hope for?

If you are putting faith in certain things/outcomes, it seems significant that what you hope for is in line with God, right?

For if our hope is focused on wrong goals, our faith will not have the power of God behind it.

And that is not faith; it is merely impotent, wishful thinking.

Check your hope.

Is it biblical?

Biblical hope simply defined (from a comprehensive look at God’s Word) is “the ability from God to view life from an eternal perspective” (Andrew Farmer, The Rich, Young Single Life, 141.)

Note with me:

1) It comes from God. (Through the power of the Holy Spirit – Rom. 15:13) That means I am going to seek Him to give it to me. I can’t ‘muster’ it up on my own, or decide through firm resolve to possess it. And if I find it lacking in my heart & life, I know where (or to Whom) to turn.

2) It is not based in an outcome of present circumstances. It is not about ‘now’ but about what is important in eternity. If we put our hope focusing on the health and safety of physical life, the provision of material income or possessions, or our idea of ‘fair’ and ‘loving’ dealings related to this life….our hope is misplaced. God operates his sovereignty and goodness in view of eternity, because that is what a wise, loving God has to do, or He’d be shortsighted.

Paul Tripp explains,
“What is God working on? Is He working hard to provide us with the biggest pile of this world’s stuff and this world’s happy experiences? If so, He has miserably failed. Even worse, He has used his creative and redemptive power to give us only that which is doomed to pass away. Would this be the work of a good God? Would a good God motivate us to hope in things that are by their very nature temporary? Would He be good if He did anything other than to confront our delusion of the permanence of this world?”

No, hope doesn’t look at this world’s happenings, possessions or experiences.

Hope emerges in us when we trust in the sovereignty and goodness of God. He is working from the view of eternity to bring glory to His name and for the good of His children (Eph. 1:11-12; Rom. 8:28).

And so I must view this life with a look toward the next.

>>>In my loss of job, I see God’s hand to draw me closer to Him, make my faith stronger, grow my perseverance, and give opportunity to witness vividly to the lost of His peace which rules my heart.

>>>In my threat of breast cancer, I see God’s opportunity to bring glory to Himself in a way that may be greater than if I did not have it. (I don’t know His exact purposes, but His word gives ample examples of others who through suffering shined brightly for Him).

>>>In my child’s wayward and evil choices, I see God’s disciplining purposes to bring him back (and my faithful call to be part in it—hard as this may be) and the opportunity for ME to grow---to examine my sinful responses to his sin (Pride? Self righteousness? Blame-shifting? Questioning God? Anger?)

>>>In my husband’s distance/distraction/failings, I see God’s reminder of grace (in my attitude), dependence on Him alone, and a test of idolatry (will I hold my view of the ‘right husband’ up & worship it in defiance of what God has allowed…?)

>>>In my disappointment about some ‘good’ thing that God has withheld, I will persevere in faith knowing He is good and wise in it. I will not worry. I will not micromanage or manipulate. I will not retreat in silent concession. I will not just ‘buck up and soldier on’. Instead I will take the next step forward in joyful faith, even if I don’t feel like it, confident God is at work.

These are ‘eternal perspective’ pillars of hope that I can choose to respond with in faith.

Biblical hope takes any situation and refuses to have the ‘final say’ be about this life. Instead, hope looks at all circumstances with an orientation to God’s eternal values and purposes.

And when it still is a puzzler (or a heart-breaking betrayal), hope rests in Who God is and in faith gives Him the benefit of the doubt.

He is always in control and working out His good purposes.

Hope…in God!