Reflections on hope

Hope. It was the one thing that carried me after I encountered God for the first time. Since I had realized that God was real, I hoped for a better future. I’m not talking about more possession, status, or anything like that. 

For far too long, my heart had longed for deep joy, inner fulfillment, real friendships, a fulfilling romantic relationship, and a peace that goes beyond understanding. I was eager to escape the miserable pit I was caught in. Hope was my driving force to find true love in God.

Hope is powerful. It keeps us going when we may not feel like getting up in the morning. It can be the chief motivation behind change in our lives. Hope is compelling as it gives us the courage to do things we would never do otherwise. 

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says about hope.

Usually, when people express hope, they refer to uncertainty. But when we look at Scripture, hope is usually closely connected to something that will certainly happen (Hebrews 6:9-12). 

God is even called the “God of hope”:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

But what about unfulfilled hope? What about the kind of hope that makes your heart sick? 

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. Proverbs 13:12

Think about the relationship that didn’t work out. Or the dream job you didn’t get. What about the times you longed for something only to soon be disappointed because your hopes didn’t come true? 

You may not understand how this or that happened or didn’t happen in your life. You can’t find the reason why you’re still waiting for something that seems long lost. Do you feel it now, the power of hope? 

It hurts. I know. While searching for the reason behind your pile of broken fragments, you may find a little piece of the puzzle as of why something happened or didn’t happen. But you can’t fully grasp it and you probably never will during your lifetime. However, there will be a time when you will see and know: 

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12

Let me hang on a second to look at Pauls’ words in his letter to the Corinthians that I highlighted. YOU are fully known by God. You are not alone in this. God sees it and he suffers with you. And as for now, we know God only in part, but there will come a time when we meet God face to face, which means, that we will fully see and know him. 

Not only will you understand the reasons for your unfulfilled hope, but even more, you will know God and talk to Him face to face. 

I can assure you there is a hope that will never fail you. The one hope that all creation cries out for. The hope that outlasts the ages because it refers to THE promise of God: Eternal life in His presence:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

That hope will never fail you.

For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. Romans 8:24-25

Even if your whole world might come crashing down, I want to encourage you to focus on eternity, look to God. Cling to God and to the one hope that will never die. 

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