What is Hope?

Hope is an enduring quality, biblically speaking. It has substance and strength. It is one of the big three mentioned by the apostle Paul – “So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three.” ( I Corinthians 13:13 ESV) It isn’t optimism -an over exaggerated hope, neither is it pessimism – a forlorn hope. Biblical hope lives far beyond these categories. They are weak by comparison as they are based on our strengths, needs, and preferences. 

Although not strictly describing a biblical perspective of hope, the Czech writer, under the hammer of the Soviet, Havel, gets very close to it when he said, “that people struggling for independence wanted money and recognition from other countries; they wanted more criticism of the Soviet empire from the West and more diplomatic pressure. But (he) Havel had said that these were things they wanted; the only thing they needed was hope. Not that pie in the sky stuff, not a preference for optimism over pessimism, but rather an orientation of spirit.” (Bryan Stephenson. Just Mercy. Scribe, 2019. 219.)

Where then is our hope from; where is it founded? It isn’t based in our humanity. It is articulated and framed in the scriptures – in God’s word, his revelation of himself, to us. Our hope has its fountain head in what God says, what he promises. If God promises something, and God cannot lie, then we have a sure hope it will be fulfilled. It is this sort of hope that brightens the future, no matter how dark the present. 

As a biblical example of hope in operation we need search no further than Abraham. He was made a promise that for all intents and purposes was impossible and could have appeared cruel. “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.  I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3 ESV)

Faith was seen in that Abraham acted towards the promise being fulfilled, even if at times it was less than perfect obedience. He is a father in more ways than one. His active faith was motivated and sustained by hope – hope in the promise. Did he struggle? Of course. “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told.” (Romans 4:18 ESV)

Against all normal hope, against natural probability, he believed in the hope that God gave him in the promise. His hope was grounded on the divine promise he would have a son in his old age. This is not hope in hope but hope in God the Word, hope in what he has promised. There is a world of difference, and a child to prove it. 

This is - Hope Reframed.