Hope, in what?
Hope has been the theme of posts and passages that I’ve been reading the past few weeks.
Hope can seem impossible or it can feel as if the object hoped in or answer to a long-term prayer can seem impossible.Romans eight speaks to the reality that hope is anchored in things yet invisible. “For who hopes for what he sees?” (8:24). The hope mentioned is that of the redemption of the creation and of the children of a God - redeemed bodies for the saints and freedom from corruption for the created order.
Hope can seem foolish. When you persevere in prayer, month after month, with no visible answer, (especially when others are aware of the needs as well and the anticipated outcome), it’s tempting to shut your mouth about it. There is, lurking in the shadows, whispers of shame and guilt for holding out hope, confident expectation in what appears to be an impossible end. The lie goes, ‘If you haven’t seen fruit for your labors yet, what confidence do you have that anything will change anytime soon? Your efforts haven’t done anything yet. Why anticipate that they will or can?’
The object of your hope can play a large part in how you respond to the answer to your prayers. It can seem to determine the ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of the end result, to validate or cancel out your persistence in hoping. If your object or target or goal is a specific outcome, how do you respond when it doesn’t happen as anticipated or maybe it does? To what or to whom do you attribute it’s ‘success’ or or ‘failure’? Are you more or are you less disappointed?
Do you feel the need to have it all figured out and then pray according to your understanding of all the possibilities?
What if things do end up working out according to your expectations? To whom or to what are you likely attribute the ‘success’? Are you more or are you less excited?
What if your hope was in a Person, not in a plan or set of prescribed circumstances? Would you be more or would you be less excited, more or less eager to give a thanks, more or less disappointed when things go according to plan or when they don’t? To Whom would you ascribe the degree of ‘success’ or ‘failure’? How do you define “success” or “failure”? How do you define what is good?
The thing is, when you place your hope in a predetermined outcome (because you think you have to have it all figured out), you are locking yourself in, tying your joy to, a very specific result or set of results to guarantee or define ‘success.’ When your hope is in a Person, you are freed from having to figure out what those results have to look like. The possibilities for a ‘happy ending’ are wide open when Jesus is the one in whom you are hoping! When he has it all figured out already – the answer to that prayer you’ve been bringing to Him month after month – the pressure is off. You don’t have to know! He is free to surprise you with unanticipated delight and good!
And you know, that perseverance in prayer, that persistence is not nor has it been a waste of time. The Lord has taken me on such a journey this last year and a half. I have grown in my trust in the One who already knows all the answers. I’ve learned to wait on Him and for Him and, in the process He has quieted my heart. He has supplied a peace and joy and sense of settledness and rest that I did not know before I started this prayer journey. I would not have traded a quicker response to these prayers for this time with Him.
Hope can seem impossible or it can feel as if the object hoped in or answer to a long-term prayer can seem impossible.Romans eight speaks to the reality that hope is anchored in things yet invisible. “For who hopes for what he sees?” (8:24). The hope mentioned is that of the redemption of the creation and of the children of a God - redeemed bodies for the saints and freedom from corruption for the created order.
Hope can seem foolish. When you persevere in prayer, month after month, with no visible answer, (especially when others are aware of the needs as well and the anticipated outcome), it’s tempting to shut your mouth about it. There is, lurking in the shadows, whispers of shame and guilt for holding out hope, confident expectation in what appears to be an impossible end. The lie goes, ‘If you haven’t seen fruit for your labors yet, what confidence do you have that anything will change anytime soon? Your efforts haven’t done anything yet. Why anticipate that they will or can?’
The object of your hope can play a large part in how you respond to the answer to your prayers. It can seem to determine the ‘success’ or ‘failure’ of the end result, to validate or cancel out your persistence in hoping. If your object or target or goal is a specific outcome, how do you respond when it doesn’t happen as anticipated or maybe it does? To what or to whom do you attribute it’s ‘success’ or or ‘failure’? Are you more or are you less disappointed?
Do you feel the need to have it all figured out and then pray according to your understanding of all the possibilities?
What if things do end up working out according to your expectations? To whom or to what are you likely attribute the ‘success’? Are you more or are you less excited?
What if your hope was in a Person, not in a plan or set of prescribed circumstances? Would you be more or would you be less excited, more or less eager to give a thanks, more or less disappointed when things go according to plan or when they don’t? To Whom would you ascribe the degree of ‘success’ or ‘failure’? How do you define “success” or “failure”? How do you define what is good?
The thing is, when you place your hope in a predetermined outcome (because you think you have to have it all figured out), you are locking yourself in, tying your joy to, a very specific result or set of results to guarantee or define ‘success.’ When your hope is in a Person, you are freed from having to figure out what those results have to look like. The possibilities for a ‘happy ending’ are wide open when Jesus is the one in whom you are hoping! When he has it all figured out already – the answer to that prayer you’ve been bringing to Him month after month – the pressure is off. You don’t have to know! He is free to surprise you with unanticipated delight and good!
And you know, that perseverance in prayer, that persistence is not nor has it been a waste of time. The Lord has taken me on such a journey this last year and a half. I have grown in my trust in the One who already knows all the answers. I’ve learned to wait on Him and for Him and, in the process He has quieted my heart. He has supplied a peace and joy and sense of settledness and rest that I did not know before I started this prayer journey. I would not have traded a quicker response to these prayers for this time with Him.
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