Unwavering Hope

10/18/2023

Written by: Paige Wassel 

There’s a four-letter word I tend to overuse in my day-to-day conversations. I mean it as an encouragement, but it more often comes across as an uncertain wish for the future. I confess, I am a hope addict.

I hope you have a good day. I hope you’ll get the job. I hope you’ll have a safe trip. I hope for healing from this illness. I hope for your peace and comfort.

Too frequently, I employ the word hope in a fragile way, indicating my desire for a good outcome. I don’t think I’m alone in my feeble wielding of this word. You need only to look to the phrase “hope against hope” to see our confusing use of hope as something we want something to be true, but we have no real confidence will happen.

I put my hope in my friends and family, that they’ll support and encourage me in difficult times. I put my hope in my finances, that I’ve saved enough money to see me through the next emergency. I put my hope in my intelligence, that I’ll be smart enough to make decisions each day that help others and secure my future. Tied to my circumstances, hope is a fragile thing that can be shaken when the thing I hoped for doesn’t turn out as I expected.

According to Merriam-Webster, one definition of hope is something we expect with confidence. Throughout the pages of Scripture, I see spiritual giants that demonstrate this kind of hope, a hope based in their knowledge of God’s character and fulfillment of His promises.

Consider David, still a shepherd boy when Samuel anointed him as the future king of Israel. Yet, it would take nearly 15 years before he would ascend to the throne, years when he is on the run from a jealous King Saul, often in hiding and relying on his best friend, the king’s son, and others to warn him of Saul’s murderous plans and changeable moods. While David had opportunities to kill Saul and expedite his rise to power, he refuses to do so, trusting in God’s promise and timing.

So many of the Psalms credited to David reflect his unshakeable hope in God, and the strength he urges others to take by trusting in him:

- Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. -Psalm 62:5-6

- Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD. -Psalm 31:24

- We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you. -Psalm 33:20-22

While David often spoke of a hope that God would see him through his circumstances, God provided an even greater eternal hope in Jesus, one that offers salvation to all who place their faith in him. Unlike the hope that can be upset by our circumstances, this hope is firm and certain, not dependent on anything we can earn through our actions but on what God has already done for us.

So great is this gift that Paul even calls God a 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

This is an unwavering hope built from trusting in Him, one that fills us with joy and peace until it is contagious. It’s a hope we can confidently dwell in because of God’s faithfulness. That’s a kind of hope worth sharing.