The Hope Factor

Do you ever wonder if hope is overrated?  If it is only a psychological, coping mechanism with no substantive purpose?  That it is merely conceptual and not applicable?  That if it is real, you have never experienced it.  You are not alone if you resonate with these questions.  We live in a world where hope is becoming an endangered species.

I don't consider myself to be an expert on hope.  Like many of you, I struggle regularly with the gap that often exists between that which we long for and that which is.  I am not exempt or immune from the gap and certainly not in denial of its existence.  But even on my worst days, I can't get away entirely from the notion of hope.  It's like a lingering aroma that won't leave. It's present even if I've become conditioned not to notice it.  It quietly remains in my life even if I've pushed it to the farthest corner of my heart.

I refer to this as the hope factor.  Hope has a tenacious quality that allows it to survive and thrive in any circumstance.  Just when we think we have rid ourselves from it once and for all, we feel its faint pulse still pumping in our hearts.  The indestructible nature of hope makes it a formidable friend and foe.  In other words, hope is with us whether we want it to be or not.  It is comforting and annoying at the same time because we have a love-hate relationship with hope.  We can't imagine life without it, but hope can, at times, highlight what we don't have more than what we have.

So what do we do?  Embrace complete hopelessness?  That's depressing.  Embrace a disingenuous attitude of positive thinking?  That's fake.  Neither of these extremes are the answer because both place all the emphasis on us rather than God.  And therein lies the problem.  We try to originate and retain hope with human strength. Or we allow difficult circumstances to breed intense pessimism in us. But the hope factor, in it's purest form, can only be known in God's presence.  There is an inextricable link between God and hope.  Where God is, there is hope.  Where hope is, there is God. Where there is no God, there is no hope.

My atheistic friends will ardently disagree with me on this and might even be offended.  But it won't be the first time we agree to disagree.  That is the spirit and protocol of the public square. Nonetheless, my eyes are fixed on the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.  Not because He makes life necessarily easier - or gives me special treatment - or makes me without flaws (far from that!). But because He gives us full access to His presence in which we find hope, peace, love, and every form of goodness.  His presence is the key.  The Psalmist says it better than I in the 139th chapter:  If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. 

Hope resides in us when we reside in Him.  God's strength, not ours, brings it about and keeps it around.  It stays attached to us and begins to rub off on others as well. Hope is an incredible gift God gives us.  Don't exchange it for an imitation or lesser gift.  If you have already done that, exchange it back.  God is very flexible on returns.  He is the hope factor.

Ex nihilo,

R.J. Rhoden