“A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…”
O Holy Night
I don’t know about you, but so much about this year has definitely made me weary. Last week, in a work meeting, I was asked to describe how I was doing in one word…and the first word that came to mind was exhausted. The second word (and the one I used) was disheartened. In so many situations (both work and personal), I see the potential of what could be, and then I am met with various realities that result in disappointment. I persist in hoping for the best, yet realizing something far less than that.
When I shared my word, I suddenly became aware of the hope I was putting in people and things of this world. Of course, I keep feeling let down! Despite having been raised in church and living the majority of my life as a Christian, I easily fell prey to hoping in the wrong things.
Hoping for good news when faced with medical uncertainty, hoping for fun plans with friends, hoping for rest and relaxation, and hoping for your dreams to come true is not necessarily bad. Hope, in the verb form, can be a powerful thing. Merriam-Webster defines hope as “to cherish a desire with anticipation” or “to want something to happen or be true.”
Going further, hope is also a noun. Merriam-Webster defines this form of hope as a “desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment; someone or something on which hopes are centered.” I have hope of eternal life with Jesus. I do not just want that to be true, I believe that will be a hope fulfilled.
In truth, my hope is Jesus. He is the One on which all other hopes should be built. When we spend too much time hoping in the verb sense we lose sight that we already have Hope. When we lose that focus, we begin to hope in the people and things of this world. Jesus is the true hope for our souls and the hope of salvation.
The word hope is used over 150 times in the Bible. In Isaiah 40:31, we hear that those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. Micah 7:7 speaks about watching and waiting in hope for the Lord, confident that He hears and will answer. Romans 5:3-4 tells us that suffering serves several positive purposes- perseverance, character, and hope. In Romans 15:13, we see the God of hope being asked to fill people with joy and peace as they trust Him, so they overflow with hope.
One of the Hebrew words for hope, qavah, means “to wait or look for with eager expectation.” We are back to a verb form of hope but a much more active, centered verb: waiting, looking for, eagerly expecting. How do we do those things well so that, in turn, we hope well?
Waiting is often synonymous with patience. Waiting can often equal worry, or it can result in complacency. Depending on how long we are waiting, we either elevate our anxiety and play out every possible worst-case scenario in our heads, or we convince ourselves things are fine or don’t matter, and we blunt our emotions to accept that it is what it is. Perhaps instead, waiting is meant to be an act of patiently trusting that we are not in control, and while we do not know the outcome, Jesus does. Waiting is a place of trust and expectation. We do not know how or when, but we know God will in His way and in His time.
When we spend our waiting time actively looking for Jesus, we will find Him. When we look with eager expectation, we are demonstrating a trust that God will do what He says He will do. We place our hope in the one true Hope—the Hope of all mankind.
So, as we walk out this season of advent, of waiting for Christ to come, may we learn how to wait well. May we look for the ways God is already with us and showing up in our lives. May we eagerly anticipate the coming of Jesus when Hope came down in the form of a baby who would one day die to save us all.
The darkest season, a thousand silent nights, the people's desperation for a Savior…and then the tiny cry of a baby boy in a stable built for animals. Hope was born. May that Hope—the One that never ends, live in our hearts this season and every day. May it carry us through the darkness, our own silent nights, and our desperate cries. Hope came down at Christmas.
“You’re still the Hope of Christmas
You’re still the Light when the world looks dark
You’re still the Hope of Christmas
And you’re still the Hope of my heart.”
Matthew West, The Hope of Christmas