How Can We Have Hope in a Hopeless Environment?

By William R. Cunningham
October 14, 2007

Introduction

How can we know what to trust in?  Should we move forward with a particular investment or should we pursue a business idea?  How can I have certainty when I am uncertain of just about everything?  There is so much that can happen to us or that may affect us at any given moment. Something that happens overseas may affect my job today causing me to be unemployed. However, something happening near or far may affect me in such a way that I obtain great prosperity. The fact is that we can’t see one second in front of us so how can we have any assurance of anything?  How can we have hope?

One of the challenges that we have is to reconcile reality with faith. We say we want to trust God, but what does that look like in the real world? Does trusting God mean that all will work out well or does it mean that all will work out either according to his will or according to a particular destiny? Therefore, we are left with the question, what does trust mean and how can I possibly have hope when the world seems so uncertain?

We are going to take a look at hope from a Christian perspective by looking at the hope Abraham displayed with regards to having a multitude of descendants even though he had no children at the time and was about 100 years old.  My hope is that you would find a way to become encouraged in situations that you face and that you would find a means to hope for the things that you pursue.

Scripture Text

"Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised." (Romans 4:18-21 NRSV)

"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." (Proverbs 13:12 NRSV)

What is Hope?

Before we move to a discussion on hope, let’s first define hope.  What does “hope” mean?  We are very familiar with the scripture from Hebrews.

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1 NRSV)

Here we see a relationship between faith and hope, which is very important as we will discover later.

The Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines hope as follows.

• To cherish a desire with anticipation, e.g., hopes for a promotion
• Trust
• To desire with expectation of obtainment
• To expect with confidence
  - hope against hope: to hope without any basis for expecting fulfillment
• Reliance
• Desire accompanied by expectation of or belief in fulfillment; expectation of fulfillment or success, e.g., no hope of a cure.
• Something or someone on which hopes are centered, e.g., our only hope for victory.
• Something hoped for

 The Harper’s Bible Dictionary defines hope as the expectation of a favorable future under God’s direction.

The Tyndale Bible Dictionary offers the following article on hope.

Hope is an expectation or belief in the fulfillment of something desired. Present hurts and uncertainty over what the future holds create the constant need for hope.  Worldwide poverty, hunger, disease, and human potential to generate terror and destruction create a longing for something better.  Historically, people have looked to the future with a mixture of longing and fear.  Many have concluded that there is no reasonable basis for hope and therefore that to hope is to live with an illusion.  Scripture tells us that those who do not have God do not have hope (Ephesians 2:12).

Biblical hope is hope in what God will do in the future.  At the heart of Christian hope is the resurrection of Jesus.  Paul discussed the nature, certainty, and importance of the resurrection in (1 Cor. 15:12-28).

Christian hope is securely based upon the words and actions of God.

There are two aspects of hope:

1. To wish for something that may happen in the future (uncertainty)
2. To anticipate something that will happen in the future (certainty)

Some Scripture References

• "O hope of Israel! O Lord! All who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be recorded in the underworld, for they have forsaken the fountain of living water, the Lord." (Jeremiah 17:13 NRSV)
• "O hope of Israel, its savior in time of trouble, why should you be like a stranger in the land, like a traveler turning aside for the night?" (Jeremiah 14:8 NRSV)
• "For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O Lord, from my youth." (Psalm 71:5 NRSV)
• "but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;" (1 Peter 3:15 NRSV)
• "so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints," (Ephesians 1:18 NRSV)
• "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling," (Ephesians 4:4 NRSV)

Of particular interest is the following scripture from Lamentations.

"He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, “Gone is my glory, and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.” The thought of my affliction and my homelessness is wormwood and gall! My soul continually thinks of it and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”" (Lamentations 3:16-24 NRSV)

This scripture is very interesting because it shows us hope in the midst of real life issues.  Jeremiah was in despair, and so much so that he reckoned all that he hoped for from God as unattainable.  However, he remembered something and his confidence in the Lord was restored and his hope came alive.

We sometimes find ourselves in despair not knowing what to do.  We may think that all is lost in a particular situation.  However, we need to remember the promises of God and who he is.  We should recall that God really does love us even though the situations we face may seem to conceal that fact.

Living with Hope

The world is uncertain.  We really do not know what is going to happen from one moment to another.  We don’t know what will succeed and what will fail.  However, we are told to put our trust in God.  Remember what the writer of Hebrews stated with regards to faith and hope.  He said that faith is having an assurance of the things that we hope for.  Another way of saying that is that faith is being certain of the things that we wait for with anticipation and expectation.

This implies that there is a degree of certainty with hope, but how could it be?  How can we be certain of anything in this world?  Actually there are many things that we can be certain of.  There are several types of certainty .

1. Logical – Something is logically certain when there is no logical possibility that it is false.  This type of certainty is found largely in mathematics
2. Metaphysical – Example, I know for certain that I exist.  To deny one’s existence contradicts that claim because one must exist in order to deny one’s own existence.  Therefore, one’s existence is a certainty
3. Moral – This is certainty that exists where the mind cannot develop any reason to oppose the belief that something is certain.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is logically certain, but that the mind lacks any reason to veto the will to believe it.
4. Practical (high probability) – This is to be certain of something that one believes has a high probability of truth.  For example, I may be certain that I ate lunch today.  It is most probable that I did.  However, it is also possible that my perception was somehow altered where I only thought I had lunch.
5. Spiritual – Something that God says is true.  God told Abraham that he will have a multitude of descendants.  However, there was no logical, practical, moral, or even metaphysical certainty that Abraham would have descendants since he and his wife were old.  However, since God told him then it was so and therefore certain.

The type of certainty that is important here is the spiritual certainty.  In other words, if God said it, then it is so and we can depend on it.  The issue is to reconcile this type of certainty with the uncertainty that we face each day.  Consider the following scripture.

" {1} Send out your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will get it back. {2} Divide your means seven ways, or even eight, for you do not know what disaster may happen on earth. {3} When clouds are full, they empty rain on the earth; whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where the tree falls, there it will lie. {4} Whoever observes the wind will not sow; and whoever regards the clouds will not reap. {5} Just as you do not know how the breath comes to the bones in the mother’s womb, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything. {6} In the morning sow your seed, and at evening do not let your hands be idle; for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good." (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6 NRSV)

This scripture seems to reconcile the uncertainty of the world with the certainty of God.  We can trust God to prosper us, but we don’t know what will prosper.  Perhaps God wants me to do one thing, but I’m doing another.  Perhaps God will prosper three out of four things that I pursue.  I don’t know.  However, it appears that God will reward the works of my hand (See Ps 1:1-3).

The Basis for Abraham’s Faith

" {1} When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. {2} And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.” {3} Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, {4} “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. {5} No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. {6} I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. {7} I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. {8} And I will give to you, and to your offspring after you, the land where you are now an alien, all the land of Canaan, for a perpetual holding; and I will be their God.”" (Genesis 17:1-8 NRSV)

"{15} God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. {16} I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”" (Genesis 17:15-16 NRSV)

"{18} Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” according to what was said, “So numerous shall your descendants be.”" (Romans 4:18 NRSV)

Abraham hoped even when everything seemed to be against the fulfillment of that hope.  Abraham was convinced that God would do what he said he would do.  There was no other way that he would have a son, let alone having a multitude of descendants.

Abraham’s confidence was the reliability of God, which assumes a relationship with God.  That is the kind of faith that Christians have for salvation.  There is no other basis for the hope that we have except that God said it.  God said that we can be saved by putting our faith in Jesus Christ.  When we do that, then we will have a certainty of the future.  Those who do not believe do not have that certainty or hope.

The hope of the Christian is indeed in God.  We confidently expect and anticipate the culmination of our salvation.  However, that being said, what about our life now?  What certainty is there in the plethora of situations that we may find ourselves in?  The certainty that we have is simply in the fact that God loves us and cares for us.  We learned in a previous lesson that God seems to operate through the natural things on the earth.  Therefore, God may very well be leading us to greater things, but it is imperative that we follow him.  We can only follow him if we have a genuine relationship with him.

We always get back to the point of relationship.  Our relationship with God, which is secured the salvation that we have, is the life line between hope and despair.  Sure there are things that happen to us that we may despair about, but we should remember that even during those times that God still loves us and has not abandoned us.  Sure we would love for God to wave the magic wand and make us all better.  However, the Bible doesn’t paint that kind of picture of God’s providence so we should not expect it.  What we should expect is God’s love and God’s care.

God was with Paul when he was martyred.  He was with Stephen, Jesus, and many others who were martyred for the faith that they held.  Why didn’t God magically catch them up to rescue them?  We can’t say for sure, but there is no reason for us to expect that since the scriptures do not paint that kind of picture of God operating in our lives.

Conclusion

How can we have hope in a hopeless environment? Do not allow the environment to dictate your trust.  Do not put your faith in the things within the environment because they will fail you.  Instead, put your faith always in God regardless of the situation or the outcome.  Know that God is blessing you and has blessed you.  Know that he cares for you and loves you.

It is easy to allow the situations of life dictate what the future will hold.  We should instead lock onto the future that God has declared to us, namely an eternity with him in heaven.  That is the hope of the Christian and it far transcends anything that can happen on this earth.  This means that we have to base our hope on God and not anything in this world.  We have to be assured that what God said will happen.  This, of course means that God has to be real to us and that we really believe him.

I believe that it is very helpful to feed yourself spiritual and to surround yourself with those things that would edify you and encourage you. Remove those things around you that stress you and depress you.  You may find listening to classical music and praying may lift your spirits and put spiritual things to the forefront of your reality instead of the negative things.  Read the Bible and most of all pray to build a lasting and personal relationship with the Lord.

Your hope can be fulfilled if you stick with it.  Work hard and keep your trust in God.  God will not lie and he will not lead you astray.  Therefore it is safe to trust him even though everything around you says that all is lost.  If God says you will win then consider yourself a winner.  If God says that you will succeed then consider yourself a success.  Don’t worry or concern yourself with what people around you say or what your environment points to. Put your trust in God since that is the only way that you can have hope in a hopeless environment.  Amen.