Hope

Sometimes you just don’t know. Well, maybe that’s not right. You do know, but don’t want to face it. Man lives by one thing, and that’s hope. If all hope is gone, the man will be close behind it.

The reality of no hope, that the situation is not going to change no matter how much you wish it to be otherwise, no matter how patient you may be or the amount of effort you’ve invested into it; it is an investment with no return. It’s just like gambling. You may have moments that you are up. But it’s inevitable, you’re going to lose.

No hope.

The futility of pressing on, of hoping against hope. What do you do when all hope for hope is done? Do you keep on without hope? We just established that you can’t.

Hope is the mover. It pushes you towards……what? Where are you headed?

Sometimes destination or at least knowing of the destination isn’t the point. Sometimes the simple act of motion that hope causes is all the hope that is needed.

So, the effect of hope is motion. The conclusion of hope is destination. But if there is no motion or destination does that mean there is no hope? Hope isn’t static. Or is it?

Can you hope for an unknown? Can you hope and not move?

What is the cause of hope? Circumstance? I would think the universe not so cruel as to leave hope to chance. Chance has odd outcomes. Probabilities of both the extremes are natural by-products of chance. I don’t recall any significant number of people with too much hope and others with too little hope. So, we can see by its outcomes that chance is not the originator of hope.

It must be God, for He can make something out of nothing and nothing out of something. That sounds like the birthplace of hope.

So, hope either exist (is) or doesn’t exist (isn’t) due to intelligent design. We don’t create hope. Hope is not due to circumstance or chance. Hope comes from God. But doesn’t it require hope to believe or entrust God with creating hope?

Knock, knock, knockin’ on Heaven’s door again.

“Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;

Wait the great teacher Death; and God adore!

What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,

But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.

Hope springs eternal in the human breast:

Man never is, but always to be blest:

The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,

Rests and expatiates in a life to come.”

(Alexander Pope, Excerpt from “An Essay on Man: Epistle I”)

According to Alexander Pope, hope is to be today’s blessing. Hope is to be ever present, it is supposed to “spring’s eternal”.

Man never is. But, man is to be always “blest”. That blessing is hope and without hope look at man. He “never is” and now, without hope, he never will be.

This is reminiscent of the creation of heaven and earth. When God first made his creation, it was “without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” (Genesis 1:2)

Heaven and earth were a confused, black, abyss of nothing. I can’t think of a better description of a man without hope.

Yes, I am aware of Abraham, “Who against hope believed in hope” (Romans 4:18). But Abraham had a hope. God gave him something, a destination, to hope for. Hope was known to Abraham. He just didn’t believe in it. Once he believed, hope became active and he started moving towards that hope of becoming the “father of many nations, according to that which was spoken” (Romans 4:18).

Hope existed first. It’s just that Abraham didn’t believe in that hope even though it came directly from God. So, belief had to come before hope could become active. Once it did, faith then supported them both. So the first cause isn’t hope, it is belief that perpetuates the hope.

“The faith of Abraham bore an exact correspondence to the power and never-failing faithfulness of God; for though, in the ordinary course of things, he had not the best foundation of hope, yet he believed that he should be the father of many nations.” (Adam Clarke)

“There is nothing more injurious to faith than to fasten our minds to our eyes, that we may from what we see, seek a reason for our hope…..for except faith flies upward on celestial wings so as to look down on all the perceptions of the flesh as on things far below, it will stick fast in the mud of the world.” (John Calvin)

Hope without belief is a want, a desire, a dream. The disciples in the boat wanted the storm to stop. They had no hope that it would, but they believed in Jesus to calm the seas and hoped that he would.

Jesus learned from Martha and Mary that Lazarus was sick unto death. They wanted Him to come and heal Lazarus. Jesus did nothing for several days.

When He arrived Martha said to Jesus, “I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.” (John 11:24-27)

The hope was obvious, for Lazarus to be alive and well. But the problem was a lack of belief. It’s why Jesus waited several days before he left.

When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Everyone was crying.

Jesus said unto Martha, “Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).

Jesus was angry. If they had only believed, there would have been no cause to call for Him.

They uncovered Lazarus in the grave. Jesus prayed to God.

“And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 11:41b-42).

Do you understand what just happened? Jesus prayed to God in the open for all to see for one reason. “Because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe”. Jesus did it so that they would believe. It was because of their lack of belief that Lazarus wasn’t healed. It was because of their lack of belief that Jesus waited to depart. It was because of their lack of belief that Jesus became angry. And it was because of their lack of belief that Jesus was praying in their presence.

Everyone hoped Lazarus to be alive and well. But no one believed it could be so.

Jesus said, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” (Mark 9:23)

Jesus Christ created all things, not only the heaven and earth but all things that are “visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him” This means He created belief, hope, and faith too.

Four times in 3 verses Jesus stresses to believe in Him.

“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” (John 14:10-13)

Believe that Christ is in the Father or at least believe in the works that He does. Believe in Christ and you’ll do greater works than Him. And finally, believe in Christ and anything you ask in His name will be done.

You gotta believe. Belief is the parent of hope and faith.

Jesus Christ is the first mover, the originator of all things. If you have no hope, then you better check your level of belief in Jesus Christ.

Bill Hitchcock