Hope

Honesty time: I've been struggling with the idea of "hope" for the past 20 months. To me, "hope" sometimes seems cruel. A person can look forward to something so much that they essentially expect it to happen, and when it doesn't, it can feel like your heart has been ripped out and trampled on the ground. 

Photo credit: http://savegoodness.com

Hope is simultaneously encouraged and discouraged in our society. We're urged to be positive and have hopes. But we're cautioned against "getting our hopes up" or "offering false hope." 

The Bible mentions hope a lot. Almost two hundred times! Most of us know the verse in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that names the three things---above all others---that will endure: Love, Faith, and.... Hope. So why does it feel like hope doesn't endure? Why does it feel like it would, in fact, be easier to let go of hope? After all, you can't be disappointed if you don't have any expectations. 

I found another verse about hope that I very closely related to:

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" 

 -Proverbs 13:12 (NIV)

Oh, how heartsick I have been these past 20 months in the quest to conceive a child! For you it might not be a child... perhaps it is freedom from illness, a promotion, escape from debt, a full recovery, a repaired relationship... whatever the case may be, we are united in our fervent prayers for fulfilled hope, the spark of anticipation when we think maybe, just maybe, it's going to happen for us, and then... the downturn into despair when we realize what we had hoped for didn't happen the way we wanted. 

But does the Bible promise that every hope we have will be fulfilled? I've had a great many hopes fulfilled---the hope for success, the hope for a husband, the hope for a healed marriage, the hope for stability/security... but it only ever seems like the hope at hand is the only one that matters, and I quickly forget the "tree of life" I already have planted! 

Of the nearly two hundred references to hope in the bible, I quickly came to the realization that the hope God promises fully and completely is that we have Salvation through Christ and that we are loved dearly by Him. We have hope that, no matter how terribly this life treats us, we have an eternity to make up for it in His care. We have hope that, no matter how many times our hopes for other things--noble things!--are dashed, He does actually love us passionately and that His plans and timing truly are for our best, no matter how unlikely that may seem in our time of despair. 

The true tragedy isn't when our hopes in this life aren't fulfilled... the true tragedy is when we abandon our hope in God. Instead of running to the source of wisdom, love, and goodness, we are sometimes tempted to retreat into our own little shell of despair. And what happens? More despair. True hopelessness.  

Sometimes God defers or denies the things we hope for. But we have one Great Hope that we know will endure and be fulfilled---the hope that God is who He says He is, and that He does what He says He will do. When we cling to that Great Hope we will find renewed strength and our soul will take wings. Our mortal hopes may be in line with God's glorious plan, and He may fulfill them for us now or in the future. Or, our mortal hopes may not be in line with His plan and He may steer us in a different direction. The redirection may be painful and may not make sense for a very long time, but the Great Hope promises it will all make sense someday. 

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." 

-Jeremiah 29:11-13

God. Hears. Us. Dear Stumbler---He hears us! He is not ignoring us. When we run to the Great Hope and seek the Source of that Hope, we will find our Father. We will find Him and we will know Him. And the key to happiness and peace despite all life's disappointments? Trust. Trusting that God's words are true. That He has a plan, and that it is a good plan. 

"Why so downcast, oh my soul? Put your hope in God!" 

-Psalm 42, 43 

Let us not fuel despair by turning away from the source of Hope. Let us not shake our fists in anger at the Father who sees the Big Picture and knows exactly how we're supposed to fit in to that glorious work of art. Let us cling to the Great Hope that endures and that is guaranteed to be fulfilled, rather than chasing after the mortal hopes that fail. 

Photo credit: http://www.backinskinnyjeans.com/

"...those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles..."

Isaiah 40:31

Shedding of Blood = Forgiveness?!

When I prepare for these messages, I will pray that God’s words be spoken and not my own. I find passages within scripture that stand out to me. Sometimes I see those scriptures in a new light, and sometimes questions linger. One portion of today’s message, in Hebrews 9, that I had lingering questions on was in verse 22 “Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins.”

Photo credit: http://lifeverlaasting.blogspot.ca/2012/04/crucifixion-jesus-crucifixion-from.html

(The above link also has an interesting article about the crucifixion from a medical perspective)

This is a verse that immediately tweaked the question “Why?” Why couldn’t God have done it any other way? Why does it have to be this way? I searched through commentaries and other sermons online and I found a particularly moving sermon delivered by Reverend Charles Spurgeon in 1857. I wanted to share some portions with you.

First, he begins his sermon by telling a story of three “fools”. The first fool is a soldier, wounded in battle, who—instead of asking if the wound is fatal or if the doctor has the means to heal him—asks by what sword and by which soldier he was wounded. The second fool is a ship captain who, in the midst of a fierce storm as gone into his quarters to ponder from where this storm came, rather than steering his ship to safety. The third fool is a regular person, sick and wounded with sin in the midst of the storm of Almighty vengeance, who---instead of asking how he can be saved—he is ponders what the origin of evil is.

Spurgeon goes on to address the very question I had. He says: “But some men will say that God's way of saving men, by shedding of blood, is a cruel way, an unjust way, an unkind way; and all kinds of things they will say of it….If you have any faults to find with your Maker, fight your battles out with him at last. But take heed before you throw the gauntlet down; it will go ill with a worm when he fighteth with his Maker, and it will go ill with you when you contend with him. The doctrine of atonement when rightly understood and faithfully received, is delightful, for it exhibits boundless love, immeasurable goodness, and infinite truth; but to unbelievers it will always be a hated doctrine.”

“O sinner, are there tears in your eyes? Look through them. Do you see that man in the garden? That man sweats drops of blood for you. Do you see that man on the cross? That man was nailed there for you. Oh! if I could be nailed on a cross this morning for you all, I know what you would do: you would fall down and kiss my feet, and weep that I should have to die for you. But sinner, lost sinner, Jesus died for you—for you… he died for no one in vain.”

At communion, we have emblems representing the body and blood of our Savior. We are asking the wrong question if we wonder why it had to be this way. Why Salvation is in Christ alone and through his bloodshed. The right thing for the saved to say is thank you. The right question for the lost is how is it that I can be saved?

I find myself too often getting caught up on the confusing “whys” in my faith, rather than accepting that there are things I will never know or understand---the only important thing I need to know at this point as that Christ died so that I could be forgiven and made right with God. And that is worth being thankful for.