hope – Kristi P. Powell

Deep Breath Before the Plunge

In one of my favorite books, The Return of the King, Gandalf, the venerable wizard, and Pippin, the playful but maturing Hobbit, arrive at a major city at the cusp of an enormous battle. Everyone is on edge, waiting for it to start. Gandalf calls it “the deep breath before the plunge”. I’ve been here several times in my life, on the edge of something completely life-changing.

Before I left for college, the first person in my close-knit family to leave home, move to another state, and complete a bachelor’s degree.

Before I moved overseas, to another country to learn a new, difficult language and be immersed in a new culture.

Before I moved back to America, not knowing in the least what was next.

Before I got married, choosing to trade singleness for lifelong partnership.

And now, I sit at the cusp of adopting four children, ages two to seven. I’ve taken lots of deep breaths before this plunge. These quiet moments of preparation before my “normal” is completely turned upside down are precious, and frightening at times.

In the weeks or months leading up to a big change, my heart has a tug of war with itself. I don’t like change, yet God’s given me an adventuring spirit that is willing to go into uncharted territory. All the what-ifs swirl around my head. I am a champion at worst-case-scenarios, which makes for great story-telling, but leads to anxiety in my personal life. It is all too easy to spiral down into fear and despair, long before any difficult thing actually happens. I’ve had moments of panic, wondering what in the world I was thinking when I made this decision. Surely you can’t handle this. It’s too hard. It’s too big. And too uncomfortable.

And while those things are true of every adventure I’ve embarked on, there is another truth that rings even truer. If God asked me to do this, he will be by my side supplying grace, strength, perseverance, and wisdom to accomplish it every step of the way. This is his plan, not mine. I’m not writing this story, he is. And I must trust the Author.

Even if nothing of the rest of my life is as I planned, expected or hoped, I will still cry out, “I have no good apart from [God]!” (Ps. 16:2). He is my never-changing Rock of Ages in the midst of the enormous, approaching change. Everything around me will look different in a few weeks, but he is and always will be the same.

Savior.

Provider.

Faith-giver.

Way-maker.

My Rock and fortress.

My God in whom I trust.

This leap of faith says nothing about me. I will never be able to look back and boast, “Look at all the amazing things I did.” No. I don’t have any faith in my own abilities. I am weak. I have and will fail. No, all the good in me is God’s work. He get’s all the credit and glory. I’m just a vessel, a clay jar in which he hid his surpassing treasure. He is worthy and he is with me. I’m ready for the plunge.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
1 Corinthians 4:7

When Hope Hurts

I did it again. I worked on my Pintrest nursery board. I mentally counted the months and estimated the due date. I thought through how and when we’d tell our families. I imagined holding a tiny human with my husband’s eyes, listening to infant squeaks. But with familiar pangs in my empty womb came the lance of reality. No baby.

Hope is a beautiful thing, but what if hope becomes an enemy? What if, in this season of life, hope is cruel, risky, and unfulfilled? What do we do when hope hurts?

Hope is a feeling of anticipation and a desire for a certain thing to happen. This anticipation and its appeal is universal. Hope is the central agent of change in storytelling and great epics: Luke to the Rebellion, Frodo to the Fellowship, and Harry to the good wizards and witches.

Hope can affect our bodies as well as our minds. Researchers learned that hope can even alter neurochemistry, mimicking the effects of morphine by releasing endorphins and enkephalins to block pain (Jerome Groopman).

Hope in Scripture

Hope is a central theme of the Bible. In the Old Testament, the word hope is used eighty-eight times (ESV). Many of these passages express the anticipation of the Messiah and the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham and the Israelites. Job, a book centered on suffering, uses “hope” twenty-one times, and it appears twenty-eight times in the Psalms, a book in which the psalmist doesn’t shy away from expressing anguish, fear, and joy to God.

In the New Testament, we see the disciples’ hope that Jesus is the Messiah. Peter was one of the first to recognize Jesus was the Christ (Matt. 16:16). He promised to never deny him, and even to die with him (Matt. 26:33-35). Peter’s hope was so utterly crushed after denying Jesus three times, he wept bitterly (Matt. 26:75). Yet on the third day after Jesus’ death, Peter himself ran to the tomb and found it empty. Later Jesus appeared and restored him. Hope kindled. Hope lost. Hope restored. Hope fulfilled.

What do we do when we find ourselves pierced by hope like Peter, left broken and weeping bitterly?

Shift your Hope

In an oft repeated refrain, the psalmist writes,

“Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.”
Ps. 42:11

When hopes are dashed and all seems the darkest, hope in God. Hope, when placed in God, is an unquenchable beacon in the night. God will not fail us. His faithfulness knows no end. He is unchangeable, all powerful, sovereign, good, and just.

If our ultimate hope is in God and his provision in Christ to cover our sin, our darkest day on earth will be the closest we ever get to hell. Even when we see the whites of the eyes of the enemy and feel him breathing down our neck, we have unshakeable hope. We are in Christ, perfect and complete, made righteous and holy through the blood of the Lamb. Our hope is founded not in this world, but in the eternal Kingdom of God.

Don’t Lose Heart

Do you hope for rest? “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matt. 11:28-30).

Do you hope for peace? “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6-7).

Do you hope for joy? “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Ps. 16:11).

Do you hope for restoration? “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

Do you hope to be rid of your flesh? “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

Dear one, do not lose heart. God knows and sees the hope that hurts you. Don’t put your hope in temporary things. Rest in your ultimate hope, the Lord, and bask in the assurance that his hope will never be foiled or disappointed. We will one day be with him.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Romans 15:13

All Things New

Famine in Sudan. An earthquake in Papua New Guinea. War and starvation in Yemen. Bombings in Syria. Wildfires in California. Children die school shootings. A friend dies of cancer. A sister suffers a miscarriage. A desperate man ends his own life. Arguments ends a marriage. Gossip kills a friendship.

Our world is hopelessly broken. Deep down, at its core, humanity and the planet we inhabit are shattered.

Glory Scorned

It wasn’t always like this. In the beginning, God spoke into being everything we know. He created a perfect world and declared every part of it good. Whole. Complete. Lacking nothing. Creator and Creation lived in perfect harmony, and the glory of the Lord was over all the earth.

Pride brought it all crashing down. The serpent tempted Eve to disobey God and she fell for it. She doubted God’s word and ate of the forbidden fruit, giving some to Adam as well. Humanity and creation plunged into the ugly brokenness of sin. God, being just, handed down punishment. A curse was laid over Adam, Eve, the serpent, and all of creation.

Groaning for Glory

Here we are. Post-fall, with millenniums of sin, destruction, and suffering. What hope do we have in this cursed, sinful, fallen world?

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Romans 8:18

Read that again. The suffering of this world cannot be compared with the glory that is waiting us on the other side of eternity. When you are in the midst of suffering and trial, we have this sweet promise. It’s nothing compared to our glorious future with Christ! Paul wasn’t saying this lightly. He knew suffering intimately (1 Cor. 11:24-28). Yet he said all this couldn’t be compared to our glorious future with Christ. Amen!

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. Romans 8:19-22

Adam and Eve did not only implicate themselves. They subjected creation to futility, sin, and the curse. “Actions have consequences” my parents often told me while I was growing up, and this had a global effect. The lordship God had given to Adam to rule over the creation was handed over to the serpent for a bite of fruit. Creation groans under the weight of futility. What was created for the glory of God is twisted and torn by sin. It longs for all to be made right.

And it will be made right! Creation will be set free from its bondage to corruption as surely as we will be freed from our sinful flesh! Like a woman giving birth, her moans, screams, and pains are leading to something new.

Glorious Good News

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Rom. 8:23-14

In the face of disaster, famine, and death, the world says, “If only we could come together and stop hurting one another, everything would be ok”. But we know better. We who walk by the Spirit know that our world and the people in it are broken, deep down, rotten to the core. We too groan in anticipation of the freedom of glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21). We need to be made new. We need a rebirth to wash all the sin, darkness, and evil from this world.

But God already covered the earth once with water, judging wicked mankind, except for one family. Noah worshipped God, but sin was written in his DNA. Sin lived on. Abraham came and sinned. Moses came and failed. David came and stumbled. Not one of the prophets could live the life of perfection God requires, until he sent his only son, fully God and fully man, Jesus Christ. He lived a perfect life, being tempted in every way but he chose to obey God. He died the death that we deserve, the punishment for our sins, and rose again, defeating death and sin! In Adam all sinned, but in Christ, the true and better Adam, we find life.

For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Romans 5:17

Abundance of grace! Free gift of righteousness! These are yours if you follow Jesus! And if you do not follow Jesus yet, they can be yours! The gift of salvation is open to all who believe. The righteousness of Christ is yours if you trust in Jesus for salvation. Amen, praise God!

Hope for Glory

Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Romans 8:25

So we hope. We wait. We groan. We walk through the suffering of this life knowing that when Jesus comes back, his Kingdom will be fully ushered in. Every tear wiped away. There will be a new heavens and earth. We will be with God in resurrected bodies, untouched by sin and shame. Yes, we wait with patience, knowing our God is working all things together in his time for his glory and our good (Rom. 8:28).

(Check our my previous articles on Romans 8 here, here, and here. Happy reading!) AllthingsnewRom8:20-21