Confident Expectation

I was reading in Romans last week for Bible time, and I was struck by some verses in chapter 15. 

Verses 4 and 13 say, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope....May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope."

Did you notice the ongoing theme here? The word "hope" is repeated three times in these two verses, and something that I think we could all use in this season of life is hope.

John Piper explains that "Biblical hope not only desires something good for the future — it expects it to happen. And it not only expects it to happen — it is confident that it will happen. There is a moral certainty that the good we expect and desire will be done."

A moral certainty. This isn't flimsy, maybe-or-maybe-not, "it could happen" hope. No, this is solid, assured, confident hope that anchors us solidly in place, no matter what happens in the world around us.

I want that. Don't you guys? 
So how do we get this kind of hope? Is it something that we can conjure up ourselves if we just have enough will power and positive thinking? Or is it something we just sit around and wait on God to provide?

I think the verses I read actually give us some pretty cool insights into how we get hope.

1. Hope comes from and is realized in God Himself

First, we should recognize that hope is something that both comes from God, and is actually perfectly realized in God Himself. It is a gift that He gives to those who follow Him, the One who is ultimately our true hope as the Rescuer and Redeemer of our souls. He provides us with the more temporal hope needed to live life in this broken world, but is also the Eternal Hope that is promised to us when we accept Jesus as our Savior. Our hope is not in wealth, relationships, security, health, or peace on earth...it is all in God Himself, who is the Provider of all we need for living here and now, and the Reason "here and now" isn't all we have to cling to!

2. Hope comes through the encouragement of Scriptures

I can't even count the number of times I have faced a challenge or felt lost in grief or confusion and been encouraged by something in God's Word that brought me hope to keep moving forward. One of the ways that God often chooses to provide hope to us is through the truths found in the Bible. Another translation of verse four says, "For whatever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." The consolation, instruction, and promises found in God's Word bolster us up in even the hardest storms of life, giving us hope to cling to for today and for eternity.

3. Hope comes by the power of the Holy Spirit

In a lot of ways, there is no way we can hold on to hope without the power of the Holy Spirit equipping us. It is not an easy thing to cling to hope in the midst of intense trials, to keep moving ahead when our flesh screams at us to quit, to strain our eyes looking for light in the darkest seasons. We need to be supernaturally empowered to do this, through the power of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. Much like with the fruit of the Spirit, I believe that the trait of hope grows in us as we allow His Spirit to work in and through us in the many different circumstances of life. We can't create hope ourselves; it has to be planted, tended, and grown in us by the Holy Spirit.

4. Hope comes from endurance

Up to now, the ways we've talked about how we receive hope have had very little with us doing anything. It seems to be in large part something that God gives to us and equips us to hold onto, and isn't something we can conjure up on our own "fake it til you make it" style. No, real hope has to be given by God Himself. Does this let us off the hook then, and allow us to passively sit around waiting for Him to drop hope into our laps? Not exactly. Like most of Biblical living, we do have a part to play in the gifts God gives us. In this case, one of the ways we receive hope is through endurance, or "brave perseverance" as another translation says. When we face trials and difficulties in this life, we have a choice: to be a victim of our circumstances, or to bravely persevere. Earlier in Romans, we read that "we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." (Romans 5:3-4) 

The way that we respond to our suffering has a direct impact on whether or not we will have hope. In this way, we do have something of a "say" in how much hope the Holy Spirit will be able to grow within us. If we choose to give up, play the victim, and stop trying, the Spirit doesn't have much to work with, does He? But if we endure our struggles (even if all that looks like is crying on the floor and begging God for help and hope rather than giving up...I've been there), that will lead to stronger character, and that will result in hope.

5. Hope comes from joy and peace in believing

In order to receive hope, we must believe--believe what? From what I've studied, Paul is speaking here about a belief in God that results in complete trust and faith in Him, reliance on His provision and goodness, resting in Him and knowing we have peace with Him. Maclaren's Exposition of the Bible tells us that "the attitude of trust is the necessary prerequisite condition of God’s being able to fill a man’s soul, and that God’s being able to fill a man’s soul is the necessary consequence of a man’s trust." It is only in believing in God--in all that He says He is and all that He tells us in His Word--and seeking to live in a way that we know we have peace with Him that we can have hope. Even in the worst trials, deepest griefs, or hardest challenges, we can have hope as long as we know we are "right with God." On the other hand, if we are living apart from Him, not in line with what He tells us to do, not relying on Him or trusting in Him, then even the best circumstances will hold no peace and no hope for us.

So you see, there seems to be a little bit of give-and-take when it comes to having hope. It is a gift given by God and realized in Him, through His Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit. At the same time, in order to be able to receive this gift and have it flourish within us, we are called to endure our sufferings and to live in complete trust and reliance on God. Even here and now, with the intense circumstances of our world and the personal and widespread trials that have resulted, we can have hope. And when we have hope, it often causes others around us to stop and take notice, and to ask us how we could possibly have hope right now. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us, "But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have..."

What a gift it would be to be able to share that hope with others! I pray that we will be those people who not only have hope, but are able to share it with a world that desperately needs it.