Hope for Hard Times

This morning while I was working on my latest talk, Hope for Hard Times, I came to realize that one of the “faith” verses I was taught was actually more about hope than faith from a contextual standpoint.

Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Just prior to this verse Paul is speaking about not casting away our confidence and the endurance we need, all words associated directly with hope.

Hebrews 10:35 & 36, “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise…”

Scholars would of course quickly qualify the verses and point out that it is also very much about faith, as faith, hope and love all go hand in hand.

1 Corinthians 13:13, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

However, in defining faith as the substance of what is hoped for and the evidence of this hope that is yet to be played out or made visible, the writer is making a case for the importance of hope in our lives. For, it’s the hope that gives us endurance during the hard times.

I recently had a chat with an agnostic and atheist about faith, hope and love. Faith they snubbed their noses at, love they couldn’t define without complicating it based on the distortions in their lives, but hope was something we all understood. It was the one common denominator that allowed us to talk about spiritual things.

We all had expectations that we desired and had confidence in obtaining it – The essence of hope. We all lacked a timetable, but put unwavering effort toward our goals and desires. The only contrasting difference was that my hope was supported by faith. I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that God would one day bring about the vision he planted in my heart at age twelve. It was as clear as day.

The other two didn’t have any such evidence or substance making their path clear. They found it uncanny that I did. In fact, they could tell that I was so convinced of the evidence that I’d stake my life on it. And in fact, I would. Even now as I write, my circumstances speak against the possibility, but the Spirit of God remains as a standard holding me to the promise.

They realized that faith, hope and love are not presumptuous, but real. And I realized through our discussion that hope is our God given desire that keeps us going, faith is our God given evidence that our hope will be fulfilled and love is the why and how it all happens.