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Faith Lessons

Hope that Will Not Disappoint

By July 17, 20193 Comments

I thought I knew what hope was all about. I had taught about hope on many occasions. Hope is a constant topic in the church. What I came to realize was that my version of hope was only optimism in circumstances that I strove to control.

 I learned this the hard way. In 2011, about a year and a half after my daughter Perrin was diagnosed with stage 4 kidney cancer I wrote at length about hope in my journal. At times I use my journal as a place to vent, and at other times to encourage myself. On this occasion, I needed to use my journaling to help me be strong so that I could remain strong for the hard days that lay ahead. I wrote:

I have not known how to hope in our situation. My hope is not in the facts. My hope is not in a specific promise from God or a specific word from God. The tendency then is to say that I do not really have anything to hope in. The facts are horrible, and God has not spoken. But He has. Maybe not directly and specifically to me or to Weezie or to Perrin. But even when that happens, people mishear. What I can hope in is the character of God. God is good. God loves us. God cares about us. God is forgiving and compassionate. God hears prayers. God is merciful. God is in control. He will not abandon His children. 

When Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego were threatened with the fiery furnace, they had no word from God as to whether they would survive or not. They had no hope and no direct word. They proclaimed to Nebuchadnezzar, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, your majesty. But even if He doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty, that we will never serve your gods or worship the golden statue you have set up.” (Daniel 3:16-18) They believed God would save them, but their faith was not dependent on God saving them. They believed that God’s love and His wisdom and His purposes were bigger than their circumstances or what they could see. That is where I need to be. 

I remember when I had been through two terrible years of seminary at Columbia. I believed God had directed me there. After those years, when I wondered why He had sent me to such a barren land, I did not question Him. I believed that even if I could not see it or immediately understand it, that He was good and had His purposes. My faith is not in what I can see or understand or in the circumstances around me or even in the answers or lack thereof to my prayers. My faith is in the character of God. My faith is in His love and His power, and that they will always prevail and are always at work, even when everything around me seems to cry out that He is not there and will not come to the rescue. My faith is in His character.

Those were excruciating years. Often, my journal was filled with anxiety, pleadings, and questions. My journal helped keep me sane as I walked through the pain. On this occasion, when I needed it terribly, God gave me a moment of clarity through my journal that I have never forgotten. An unseen world exists that is beyond the circumstances of our lives. Our hope resides in the One who is Lord of the seen and unseen. Our hope is in the character of the One who is love and has shown us that love in the life, death, and resurrection of His Son. In that hope, I will put my trust.

Join the discussion 3 Comments

  • Richard Kemper says:

    Thank you. I needed that this morning. Hope and love and faith in God that does open our hearts and minds and develop our character for concern and the needs of others.

  • Kenney Grigg says:

    Tommy, this is a great word. You really touched on a key, which is that hope must go beyond our visible circumstances. So often we “hope” for changes: healing, recovery, a turnaround, an immediate positive answer to prayer. But the circumstance does not change; or the answer to the prayer is “no.” Hope does not end there; in fact, that may be the starting place for real hope. God is at work in ways we may not see or know. See 2 Cor. 4:16-18.

  • Dan says:

    I love the idea of journaling not only to vent but also to encourage myself. Thanks Tommy.

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