There are 181 times the NIV Bible translates into English the various forms of the word “hope.” I have every one highlighted in my Bible. I love coming across them when I’m reading. No matter how I feel, hope is always a welcome companion.
The first reference to hope is in Ruth 1:12. This is a picture of a woman who has lost all hope. “Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the LORD’s hand has turned against me!” I confess to having some of Naomi’s feelings recently. I don’t feel the Lord’s hand has turned against me, but I’ve been overwhelmed and temporarily lost a tight grip on hope. In preparing for teaching the women at our local women’s prison last week, God sweetly restored my hope and gave me an optimistic attitude. I think there are others out there who have lost their grip on hope, so I wanted to share what I learned.
It started with looking in the Bible at the illustration of Peter walking on the water to Jesus. Talk about a walk of faith. What would it take to climb out of a boat in the midst of a storm at night and attempt to walk across the water? As was so often the case with Peter before the Holy Spirit got ahold of him at Pentecost, he made an impetuous and faith filled move, that was somewhat short lived. Matthew 14 tells of Jesus having stayed behind to pray after feeding the 5000. He sent the disciples on ahead to cross the sea, then came walking on the water to join them in the middle of the night. They were, of course, frightened to see Him walking toward them on the water. Verse 27 picks up the story. “But Jesus spoke to them at once. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said. ‘Take courage. I am here!’
28 “Then Peter called to him, ‘Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you, walking on the water.’
29 “‘Yes, come,’ Jesus said.
“So Peter went over the side of the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the strong wind and the waves, he was terrified and began to sink. ‘Save me, Lord!’ he shouted.
31 “Jesus immediately reached out and grabbed him. ‘You have so little faith,’ Jesus said. ‘Why did you doubt me?’
32 “When they climbed back into the boat, the wind stopped. 33 Then the disciples worshiped him. ‘You really are the Son of God!’ they exclaimed.”
What’s the remedy for the fear Peter experienced? Jesus said it was faith and trusting Him. I want to talk about the part hope plays in our faith and trust. Biblical hope is different from worldly hope. If someone says, “I hope I get a new car,” they don’t necessarily know whether they will get the car or not. It’s wishful thinking. Biblical hope is a knowing, because we know Who loves us and always has our best interest at heart. Romans 5:5 says, “And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.” (NLT)
Peter took his eyes off Jesus and saw the waves and storm and knew he was sunk. If he had been confident in his hope of who Jesus was, it wouldn’t have been an issue. Hope keeps our minds focused on Jesus not the storm raging around us.
My life verse reminds me that I can’t just conjure up this kind of hope. I’ve said this verse dozens of times and have it memorized. But I forgot. Romans 15:13 says, “ I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.” (NLT) I see from this verse that God is the source of hope. It’s his desire to fill me with joy and peace. Who doesn’t want to be filled with joy and peace, no matter the circumstances? I certainly do. The Holy Spirit is able to not just give me a miniscule amount of hope, but enough to overflow and splash onto someone else nearby. My part? I need to trust Him.
It sounds easy to say, “Just trust the Lord.” But how do I do that? Is trust a feeling that needs to be present, or is it something else? If it’s a feeling, then I’m doomed, just like I was recently when I was overwhelmed. If it’s something else, how to I grab onto trust and stop looking at the storm all around me?
I think of the 12 of the spies who were sent out to do recon on the Promised Land before the Israelites entered in. They all saw the same circumstances. Their reports of what those circumstances meant were quite different. Ten saw the difficulties. Two knew God was with them and they could conquer every place He was leading them. The story is retold from the events of Numbers 13 in Deuteronomy 1 starting in verse 20.
“ ‘You have now reached the hill country of the Amorites that the Lord our God is giving us. 21 Look! He has placed the land in front of you. Go and occupy it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you. Don’t be afraid! Don’t be discouraged!’
22 “But you all came to me and said, ‘First, let’s send out scouts to explore the land for us. They will advise us on the best route to take and which towns we should enter.’
23 “This seemed like a good idea to me, so I chose twelve scouts, one from each of your tribes. 24 They headed for the hill country and came to the valley of Eshcol and explored it. 25 They picked some of its fruit and brought it back to us. And they reported, ‘The land the Lord our God has given us is indeed a good land.’
26 “But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go in. 27 You complained in your tents and said, ‘The Lord must hate us. That’s why he has brought us here from Egypt—to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have demoralized us with their report. They tell us, “The people of the land are taller and more powerful than we are, and their towns are large, with walls rising high into the sky! We even saw giants there—the descendants of Anak!”’
29 “But I said to you, ‘Don’t be shocked or afraid of them! 30 The Lord your God is going ahead of you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt. 31 And you saw how the Lord your God cared for you all along the way as you traveled through the wilderness, just as a father cares for his child. Now he has brought you to this place.’
32 “But even after all he did, you refused to trust the Lord your God, 33 who goes before you looking for the best places to camp, guiding you with a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.” (NLT)
Are we like the 10 who demoralized the entire nation, or like Caleb and Joshua who trusted the Lord even though they saw it would be difficult to occupy the land where the Lord was calling them? Do we lose heart or take heart? It all depends on how well we apply this pivotal principle in maintaining our trust and hope: We are responsible to take control of our minds.
Joshua and Caleb knew and believed the principle of Philippians 4:13. “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.” (NLT) We can do everything God call us to do, because He will give us the strength. When we let our minds dwell on the obstacles, fears and seeming impossibility of the task, we become demoralized and quit. When we remember God and His strength available to us, we become optimistic and face the task confident in His abilities. Joshua and Caleb did take control of their minds and thought of the good land, His gracious guidance to get there and the slavery He released them from in Egypt. They eventually got to enter the Promised Land, but it would be another forty years until all those who couldn’t take their minds captive and trust the Lord died off.
This kind of optimism is kept by constantly keeping our minds focused on the things of God. I don’t have to think every thought that comes into my mind. I can reject false and fearful thoughts, and replace them with true and hopeful thoughts. Fortunately, the Bible tells us how to do that. Philippians 4: 8 & 9 says, “And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” (NLT) Again, God will give us His peace when we do things according to His instructions. As the verse mentions, it takes practice. I was off my game a little recently, and allowed my focus to get off of hope and onto fear. I’m back in the game this week.
Romans 12:2 is another reminder to cling to hope. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.” I can trust God to even change the way I think. My part again, is to reject those false and fearful thoughts, and think about the true and hopeful things. Even in a hard time, there are hopeful things to think about that line up with God’s will and what He is doing in the midst of our circumstances.
I want to close with another of the 181 references to hope. “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.” (Hebrews 10:23; NIV) I’ve got a renewed grip on hope now, and I want to keep holding on tightly.