She was two, maybe three years old. And just as adorable as a little girl has the right to be. She was my first niece and I loved playing with her whenever I had the chance. I remember being enthralled with all the sweet clothes they had for little girls back then. One day she had on a particularly cute pair of shoes so I teasingly asked her if I could borrow them someday. Her response was, “You can have them when they grow up.”
Of course, I knew that was never going to happen, but what I love about that response is, she was still living in the realm of possibilities. The world hadn’t yet tainted her reasoning of “anything is possible.”
When, exactly does that happen? When do we go from thinking that “anything we can imagine could be a reality” to “nothing will ever work out the way we want it to?” When did we accept disappointment as the standard for life and give up our ability to walk in hope?
Recently, an author I admire, Shauna Letellier, released a new book called Remarkable Hope. It is a beautifully written book of vignettes weaving fiction into the stories in Scripture. It is based on people in the Bible who had placed their hope in Christ and were disappointed in Him. At first. But then, in each story, Christ not only came through for them but did so in a way they could never have envisioned possible.
Following is an excerpt from Shauna’s book.
Hope. We use the word every day. With the best intentions, we cast pleasant desires for ourselves and our friends into the air to vanish. We mean well, but we have precious little control over outcomes.
I hope it doesn’t rain, (but there are clouds rolling in.)
I hope you feel better, (but sympathy doesn’t chase away the virus.)
I hope I get to sleep in, (but I have young children.)
Our metaphors are also colored with unlikelihood. “Dashed hope” gives way to the announcement that the situation is “beyond hope.” Even when we speak positively, hope is a small glimmer, a singular ray, or a fine shred.
It is a strange and sad irony that our well-wishes are thin and unreliable. In devastation and unmet expectations, we may mistakenly conclude that our hope in Christ is as slippery as the rain we were hoping not to get.
But hope is a pillar of our Christian faith. It is not the vaporous wish tainted by doubt that we employ as we blow out birthday candles. When the apostles wrote about it, they spoke with confident assurance. Peter tells us we have a “living hope.” The writer of Hebrews calls it an “anchor for the soul.”
Biblical hope is expectant certainty. It is knowing that Christ guarantees everything he has promised and purchased.
When Paul prayed for the church in the city of Ephesus he said, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you.” That kind of hope is no evaporating well-wish. It is absolute–a hope that does not put us to shame.
Throughout the gospels, Jesus transformed disappointment into unexpected gifts. To read the stories is to be continually surprised by God’s drastic and surprising methods. His work was rarely what anyone anticipated, but it was always immeasurably more than any of them could have asked or imagined.
And because He doesn’t change, we can expect the unexpected, and prepare to have our hope in him revived.
{Excerpted from Remarkable Hope: When Jesus Revived Hope in Disappointed People, by Shauna Letellier. © 2019 FaithWords, Nashville}*
My dictionary defines hope as the feeling that what is wanted can be had or the events will turn out for the best. It is to look forward to something with desire and reasonable confidence.
This week, as we celebrate Palm Sunday and then move into Holy Week, we think a lot about hope. Our hope in the resurrection. But it’s not the kind of, “I’m hedging my bets on this Jesus thing,” kind of hope. It’s the, “I know the end of the story and know He’s my Savior,” kind of hope. The kind that allows us to confidently walk through life with our head held high, boldly confessing what Jesus’ sacrifice means to us.
Yes, it can be dark and depressing to think of what he went through on our behalf, but it is good to be reminded of why we live our lives the way we do. Living to fulfill his purpose for us and not shirking the call he has placed on our heart to carry out. I was prayerfully reading my Bible this morning, looking for the message that I needed to share today and was surprised when I reread verse 3 in John chapter 1. “God created everything through him (Jesus or the Word) and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created and His life brought light to everyone.”
None of that was really new to me. But what was in the footnote of my New Living Translation of the Bible really struck me. It says, “When God created, he made something from nothing. Because we are created beings, we have no basis for pride. Remember that you exist only because God made you, and you have special gifts only because God gave them to you. With God you are something valuable and unique; apart from God you are nothing, and if you try to live without him, you will be abandoning the purpose for which you were made.”
Wow. Did that hit you like it did me? No wonder so much of my life has seemed like a struggle. No wonder it felt like I was swimming upstream so much of my career. Not only was I trying to do it all on my own, but I was living out of alignment with that which I was created for.
God doesn’t want our lives to be a struggle. He doesn’t intend for us to be exhausted and overwhelmed with what we have to do from day to day. Instead, He wants to be our partner and guide our days, even our workdays, and show us what is important and what isn’t.
What’s cool about that is, knowing that God is our partner, we can begin to look at the possibilities from a whole different perspective. We can stop holding back and limiting our belief of who we are and what we can accomplish from the knowledge that God created us for greatness and He will give us everything we need to accomplish our purpose in life. He will bring to fruition the hope that He has planted in our hearts.
So, as we focus on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem this Sunday knowing we will have some dark days ahead, keep your eyes on the knowledge that He came to redeem us from our sins. That promise is already fulfilled. With that knowing, everything He whispers in our ear is possible. So keep the hope alive and take the next step, whether it be reading the Passion story this week, going back to church even though it’s been longer than you care to admit, or finally surrendering your life to His will.
As I mentioned last week, I’ve got some big changes coming for the podcast, so be sure to check back over the next few weeks so you don’t miss a thing.
Thank you for stopping by. I know how precious your time is and I appreciate your listening to this today very much. Have a blessed week and if you know someone who you think would be encouraged by this message, please share it with them so that they too can walk in hope.
*Shauna Letellier is the author of Remarkable Hope: When Jesus Revived Hope in Disappointed People. Drawing upon her degree in Biblical Studies, she weaves strands of history, theology, and fictional detail into a fresh retelling of familiar Bible stories in her books and on her blog. With her husband Kurt, she has the wild and hilarious privilege of raising three boys along the banks of the Missouri River where they fish, swim, and rush off to ball games.
