Hope & Faithfulness

Hope: expectant believing. The confident expectation of what God has promised, it's strength is in His faithfulness. To believe, desire, and trust.

This year, I wanted to really sit with the Lord and find a word to be able to wrestle with, learn from, and grow in. At the beginning of the year, I prayed, fasted, and leaned in with the Lord. I landed on "hope." Something I thought I was pretty decent at. But then I sat and wondered, what is hope? I tried to define it. I tried to find this clear things and only came up with synonyms like "wish" or "desire." These synonyms didn't settle with me. I knew hope was more than just a fickle thing like a wish. For me, hope felt like a word of confidence, but as I kept reading definitions with the word "wish," my confidence lessened. This has been a word I've wrestled with. Especially when I've placed my hope in circumstances, people, or ideas, and they only lead to disappointment. I think this is because the world has tainted the definition of true Hope, just like they have with love. The world's hope has led to many let downs and disappointments. But wow, JESUS. What a Person to hope in. Hope doesn't remain a passive wish, but becomes an active, live, real, sure, concrete reality. Jesus, as our Hope, is never fickle, never disappointing, never for nothing. We have Hope because He did rise. He did defeat Hell, death, and the grave. Because on that third day, He lived. Death lost its sting. On that third day, Hope had a Name. Hope was no longer a concept, but a Person. I'm a naturally hopeful person. I love to see the best in people. Some people say that hope is a risk, hope can be painful, hope is scary. But when our Hope is in Christ, it is secure, it is peaceful, and it is comforting. This doesn't mean we never hope for things in this life. Hoping is good. But when we allow our hopes in the world overcome our hope in Christ, it becomes an issue. Reality is that we all hope for things and when they do let us down, we can always turn to Christ, as our Living, Constant Hope. When things don't go how we planned, remind yourself that your Hope is in Him, because when our Hope is Him, the hiccups in our plan remind us of the establishment in the Lord's plan. His Word promises that He establishes our steps, He is our Firm Foundation, He is our Cornerstone, He is faithful and true. Our Hope, Who will never let us down, even though the earth give way and plans fail.

Earlier in my definition of hope, I shared that the strength of our Hope is in His faithfulness. Last year, my word was faithfulness, this year it's hope. How beautiful that they coincide! You see hope in things of this world fall short and disappoint because the faithfulness and dependability of things of this world fail. But Hope in Him will never fail because it relies on His faithfulness, and He never changes. He is always faithful, which means Hope in Him will never return empty. And so, when the things of this world fail or disappoint, my Hope remains and abounds all the more.

Here are a few things that I think show just a glimpse of what Hope in Him looks like:

Hope is

The stars painting the canvas of the night

The warmth of the sun kissing your skin after a brutal winter

Peace that abounds after a vicious storm

Full submersion in a nice cold pool in the heat of summer

A breath of fresh air

A rainbow so carefully etched in the vastness of the sky echoing His promise, His faithfulness

Hope... light in the darkness, peace in the storm, refreshment. Hope relies on His faithfulness. Hope has a Name. Jesus is Hope, always and forever. No matter how many times the things of this world fail, He remains. Hope isn't fickle. Hope remains. Hope abounds. Keep Jesus as your Hope today. He will not fail.