HOPE EVEN WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW

28-SEP-2020

Sometimes, I lack hope. Maybe I need hope for a specific situation, but the overwhelming lack of hope in other parts of my life drains my ability to see a glimmer of hope for the situation where I need it the most. This article is about finding hope again.

Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful. Hebrews 10:23

Having hope doesn’t mean ignoring your current reality

People living in an ideal situation probably don’t have much of a need for hope. They are busy living the dream, as we say. But having a need for hope is ironically where you will likely find hope.

I am not saying you literally find hope sourced from despair. That doesn’t make any sense. Sometimes I might get so in despair over a situation that I lower my desire for a more optimal outcome so low that I don’t believe I need hope anymore. I am “making the best of my situation” as they say. And this hopelessness can show up in a number of unhealthy faithless ways.

“Well, this is my lot in life. If the Lord wants to save me from this, then He will.”

Doesn’t that sound so spiritual of me? It sounds like I am saying I trust the Lord, but really I am doing two things:

Wanting isn’t hoping

Wanting is a great start. But the feeling of “wanting” without any real hope can lead to despair right? So relax in knowing that your wanting some outcome is not required. It isn’t really going to change anything on it’s own. Wanting is like standing in the window of a burning building on a top floor. You want to not die, but it doesn’t cause you to sprout wings and get away safely.

And saying things like, “well, this is my lot in life,” cause you to climb out of the window and sit down on the floor of the burning room. Again, not helpful. Not hopeful.

Moving from wanting to hopeful

What causes us to climb back in the window, expecting a more positive outcome?

Imagine you have friends who are firefighters. And on more than one occation they have regaled you will exciting stories of daring rescues from burning structures. In some cases, you have even met some of the people they have rescued.

Contrast that experience, with another friend who has only ever read books about firefighters. They know a lot about the profession, and stories of daring rescues, but they don’t have many personal experiences with firefighters or people who have been rescued.

Contrast that with people who doubt the likelihood of the commitment of firefighters. Maybe they think they only run into small burning houses or rescue kittens from trees. They don’t read books or hang out with people who have been saved by them.

Which of the above three people will get up off the floot and climb back into the window with any real hope that they will be rescued?

Maybe the first two? The third person might climb into the window, but not with muhc actual hope.

Hope requires having a reason to hope

Hebrews 10:23 reminds us that there is a reason to hope, namely due to Jesus’ faithfulness. If we are thinking like the three people above:

Doubtful and hopeless

These people would not know Jesus or his faithfulness personally and likely will not be spending time with people who have a current relationship with Jesus and others who are followers of Jesus. In that case, they are not likely to put any faith in Jesus in practical ways.

Well Read but not personal

These people think they know the “right” way to feel because they read something about the topic once or sat under someone who told them how to view the world. But they aren’t relating to Jesus in a personal way and often feel like either they don’t really know how faith and hope comes from reading (which it doesn’t) or it turns into a pressure to pretend things are fine and the house isn’t burning down, when it really is.

Living close to hope

These people know the firemen, know the stories, and living in real neighborhoods with people who needed to be saved and were. They read the stories, they share their hope-filled stories and encourage one another, and when fires arrive, they kno what to do.

Being any of the above types of people doesn’t make fires any less scary. But living close to hope means you know how to keep your head, be safe, and get saved.

Becoming a person of hope

Let us hold fast the unwavering confession of hope, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. And do not neglect our own meetings, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another—and all the more so as you see the Day approaching. Herbrews 10:23-25

Let’s be honest. Not all communities are healthy. I know plenty of places to go make friends who either 1) like to complain (misery loves company) or 2) lower their standards together (again… mysery loves company).

If the group is simply working together to either explain away a need to be rescued and band together in their mysery, trying to rescue either other in a painfully human manner that doesn’t really help so much except for annecdotally from time to time, or it is just a place to complain, then I would call that an unhealthy community based on what Hebrews is describing.

Not any old encouragement will do

Encouragement here is not talking about making each other “see the brighter side” or “accept our lot in life”. Encouragement is explicitly about stiring up hope in the faithfulness of Jesus. The outcome of that is to live close to hope. You do that by looking for more opportunities to see the faithfulness of Jesus. You go love each other and show love to others.

You naturally join in on good things, not on complainer parties. You make room for people to realize the house is burning down, and they might want to talk about that, but then you help bring life into the situation to help them see how they can be saved out of the dilemma via the Holy Spirit.

The Cancer Example

People can come up with all sorts of ideas on how to save or be saved. Some will work, but often result in less than helpful outcomes:

From that time on, Yeshua began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and ruling kohanim and Torah scholars, and be killed, and be raised on the third day. Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Never, Master! This must never happen to You!” But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:21-23

Peter had a plan, and while it was an answer to a troubling and real situation, it had nothing to do with what Jesus was really trying to do. If Jesus was a firefighter, His friend Peter was saying there was no way he was letting Jesus run into that burning building. Jesus responded, basically saying it would be tempting to let Peter hold him back, but he needed to run into the buil ing. He needed to get on with saving people.

In my life, like many other people, I have seen the “house fire” that is cancer invade the lives of many friends and family. Let’s look at how society addresses cancer through the three people above:

Doubtful and hopeless

These people, having no real relationship to Jesus, wouldn’t make Jesus a factor. They are sadly subjected to cancer and it doesn’t matter if Jesus or science shows up on the scene. They are likely to focus on saying their goodbyes.

Well read but not personal

They might have read plenty of stories about people gaining access to great scientific treatments and skilled doctors, but they don’t know any themself. They have seen more people die from cancer than survive, so Jesus and science are not much comfort.

Living close to hope

Maybe they know survivors, and they spend time with them. They talk about their fears but they feed their faith. They read up on and know science, despite the lousy track-record forges forward to find new treatments, and practicing doctors are having all kinds of success all of the time. They are on the hunt for doctors who have hope.

The reality is, when it comes to cancer, most of the planet is fully aware of the intense fire of that burning house. But they forge forward with hope. What do we not do:

These days we see a lot of very legitimate angst about various kinds of “burning buildings” in society. And it is important to talk about how very scary those burning buildings are. But our hope rests in Jesus. People can certainly do all sorts of things that might help slow the flames. But I want to invite Jesus to come in and put the fire out the way only Jesus can.

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