Hope

We all live in hope of something.  It may be as little as having a nice day, or it may be as great as finding a “soul mate.”  Hope can be concrete as hoping that the colors you selected to paint your house with will look good once the painting is done.  Hope can be as ethereal as wishing upon a star or longing for world peace.  Hope is so important to us that the absence of hope is considered a symptom of Depression or a measure of suicide risk.

I don’t know Latin, Hebrew, or Greek.  I was told that the words translated into the English word “hope” as it appears in the New Testament mean “a confident expectation.”  For instance, Christians live in confident expectation of the Rapture, when Christ will return in the clouds and call us out of the world to be with Him.  Those of who have died in Him will return with Him, and their bodies will be resurrected first.  Then those who are living will be caught up to Him in the air.  Instantly, we will be given new bodies, like Jesus’ resurrected body, and we will be with Him ever after. (1Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1John 3:2-3)

I love how the old song “Whispering Hope” (by Septimus Winner) speaks to how hope lifts us up out of the trials of this life and comforts us:

Soft as the voice of an angel,
Breathing a lesson unheard,
Hope with a gentle persuasion
Whispers her comforting word:
Wait till the darkness is over,
Wait till the tempest is done,
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow,
After the shower is gone.

·         Refrain:
Whispering hope, oh, how welcome thy voice,
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.

https://library.timelesstruths.org/music/Whispering_Hope/