Biblical Answer

Hope, Despair, and Knowing Reality

Hope is a distinctly human emotion. It is a skill that develops over time, and it is also a corporate venture that needs the reminders of the body of Christ. Hope is not mere optimism; it is a looking forward to the eternal world that is not escapism or wishful thinking. However, hope can be defeated, and when our hopes seem to be experiencing disappointment, it simply means that they are being purified. Every hope or dream of the human mind will be fulfilled if it is noble and good.

As humans, we are prone to disappointment, and dashed hopes can lead to despair. Hope deferred makes the heart sick, as Solomon says in Proverbs 13:12. Unrealized hopes can ruin relationships, careers, and even lead to suicidal thoughts. However, without faith in God's wisdom, sovereignty, and power, hope is a chimera. This is why Job, in the midst of his suffering, begins to reach out for the Christian hope for ultimate justice and renewal, a future that outlasts clinical death.

But what about those who have killed hope or never nurtured it? Hopelessness is lethal, and it is a question of whether we want to change. We need to pray for eyes to see and understand the significance of the human use of the future tense, the grammar of hope. We need to recognize that hope is not just a feeling, but a choice. As Christians, we know that God is sovereign and that He has a plan for our lives, even when it seems like our hopes are being defeated. We can choose to hope in God, even when all else seems lost. This is the hope that is rooted in faith, and it is the only hope that can sustain us in the midst of despair. As the Bible says, "Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God." (Psalm 42:11) We can choose to hope in God, even when all else seems lost.