Continuing In Faith, Hope & Love (Part 5)
CONTINUING IN FAITH, HOPE AND LOVE - Part 5
(1 Corinthians 13:13)
Yeow Chin Kiong
To hope is to acknowledge that "Man who is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble" (Job 14:1) and "... all the works that are done under the sun ... all is vanity and grasping for the wind" (Ecclesiastes 1:14). We sense, intuitively, that there can, and ought, to be a better human existence somewhere and sometime else. This is clearly because our Father "has put eternity in (our) hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end" (Ecclesiastes 3:11). This human quandary keeps us yearning in great anticipation for a future existence forever without sorrow, pain nor any negative experience then. This is what we hope for and this hope sustains us in our present difficult, fleshly existence.
Biblical hope is a confident and certain expectation and desire for a future far more pleasant than what we are now experiencing. Biblical hope is not mere wishful thinking for "a pie in the sky bye and bye." Rather, it is rooted in evidence that God Himself has revealed in His works and His word (Romans 1:18-20; Hebrews 11:6). The ground for a Christian's hope is solidly based on Divine promise in immensely comforting and confidence-building language as Jesus' in John 14:1-3, "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."
Proverbs 13:12 is correct when it says, "Hope deferred makes the heart sick; but when the desire(d) comes, it is a tree of life." However, often we must wait a long time before that which is hoped for, or desired, materialises. When our hopes are rooted in scriptural promises revealed by God, we wait patiently for their realization because we trust the God who promised He will bring it about.
Our God is very involved in the affairs of man. And He desires to be recognised and glorified as the benevolent Deity that He is. This is obvious in Isaiah 41:21-24 and 44:6-28 where our Father compares Himself to lifeless and impotent idols. For one thing, unlike the man-made idols, our Father can prophesy the future and Himself cause it to happen. Similarly, He plans the future of His people (Jeremiah 29:11) to give them good things. This is great encouragement for us to be confident that our hopes (which we often express to Him in prayer) will receive His fair attention. As Hebrews 10:23 reminds us, "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful."
As Psalm 39:7 expresses it, "And now, Lord, what do I wait for? My hope is in You." During moments of doubt about our hopes coming to reality, we must remember Him who promised to fulfill those hopes, especially that He is trustworthy and omnipotent.