The more I think about it, as a latchkey kid left pretty much left on my own, it’s a miracle that I survived my childhood. Second-hand smoke, outside till the streetlights flickered on, sugar in everything, riding bikes without helmets, road hockey, and drinking from the garden hose – I experienced them all. Once my friend Jimmy and I even cut our fingers so we could be blood brothers and promised not to squeal about stealing apples off Madam Beaulieu’s tree down the road. In those days I ‘smoked’ candy cigarettes, had a few cap-guns – all unregistered, I might add, and the police were my friends.
Then there was the music of the 50s and 60s. It was different back then, because for one thing, you pretty much understood the words. Some of the names are legendary today, like Peter, Paul and Mary [not the folks in the Bible-sorry!], the Everly Brothers, Johnny Cash, Simon and Garfunkel. Sometimes we would go over the Mad Mikes house and he would play Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons’ ‘Sherry’ so he could go falsetto on us. No, I was not raised in a Christian home! It was all harmless ... though I suppose I should confirm this with my therapist.
One of the Golden Oldies from my childhood was “You Gotta Have Heart,” by ah . . . I don’t remember who, to be honest. What I do remember however are some of the lyrics:
You’ve gotta have heart
All you ready need is heart
When the odds are sayin’
You’ll never win
That’s when the grin should start
You’ve gotta have hope
Mustn’t sit around and mope
Nothin’s half as bad as it may appear
Wait’ll next year and hope
Hope!” With the New Year 2023 now spread wide before us, I think ‘Hope’ is a good January, word-of-the-month verb to remember as events will insist on tumbling in and push us to forget that transformation in our lives and our circumstances is always possible. Think of Hope as an anchor secured to solid ground to stabilize any heavy seas in your life.
“Unto Him who is able to keep us from falling, and lift us from the dark to the bright mountain of hope, from the midnight of desperation to the daybreak of joy, to Him be power and authority for ever and ever.”
Martin Luther
I still remember January 20, 2009, the beginning of another New Year. On the steps of the U.S. Capital that Tuesday afternoon, President-Elect Barack Hussein D. Obama stood before Supreme Court Chief Justice John G. Roberts and took the 35-word oath of office prescribed in Article II, Section 1, of the American Constitution. Placing his hand on Abraham Lincoln’s Bible – Obama became the 44th president of the United States but more significantly, the first black president in America’s 233-year history.
One of the hallmarks of his political success, it seems to me, is that in an environment dark with job losses, Wall Street scandals (Madoff), the ongoing war against terrorism, a titanic U.S. Housing Crash and the worst U.S. economic disaster since the Great Depression, Obama, the Democratic Party’s new rock star, was able to get Americans to lift their chins a little. His 2nd book, The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream became a # 1 national best seller after being endorsed by Oprah Winfrey. Listen to what the President wrote:
“Hope is that thing inside of us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that there is something greater inside of us.”
Obama is right. We call Him “God”!
I sometimes wonder if Hope isn’t just a mere grammatical connector between Faith and Love for many believers – rather than the eternal empowering concept central to God’s plan for us, that it is.
While we should not begrudge this past U.S. President his audacity or his intelligence, I want you to know that he does not have, nor does the political / media caste have, a corner on the ‘Hope’ market. The Scriptures drip with hope and possibility.
“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts [hopes] in him, and I am helped.” (Psalm 28:7).
“The hope of the righteous shall be gladness” (Proverbs 10:28).
“Those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” (Isaiah 49:23).
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope . . .” (I Peter 1:3)
“God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27)
“This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance . . . that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe.”
(I Timothy 4:10).
Most people understand hope as wishful thinking, a kind of weak form of Pollyannaish positive thinking ̶ as in "I hope something will happen with the economy” or “I hope she says yes to a date”. Here, I suspect our meager optimism is probably outmatched by our total naivete. Still, optimism should not be confused with hope. Optimism anticipates the best possible outcome, but if the best does not come, it can surely lead to pessimism. Hope on the other hand is more resilient . . . more enduring . . . more helpful; it moves forward despite any setbacks.
Scripture describes Hope as “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.” (Hebrews 16:19)
In the Bible, hope is a ‘confident expectation’. Romans 8 (24-25) and Hebrews 11 (1, 7) tell us that it is a firm assurance regarding things that are unclear and unknown. Proverbs 23:18 tells us that it is a fundamental component of the life of the righteous. Without it, life loses its meaning.
The difference however between the hope of Obama … and the hope of Scripture is that the Bible’s hope is rooted IN someone (Present) while Obama’s hope is FOR someone (Future).
A story and I’m finished.
The year is about 606 B.C. A Jewish man, by the name of Habakkuk, is living some 18 years before the City of Jerusalem is destroyed (586 BC) by the Babylonians. His country, the nation of Judah, is in decline – politically, economically, morally, and spiritually . . . and Habakkuk’s hope is flagging!
Frustrated by God’s apparent lack of action in his world, his situation is worse than anything we can imagine in Canada because in Judah there were no social services agencies … homeless shelters … or food banks. Like the child in the back seat on a family vacation who keeps asking that nagging question, “Are we there yet?” . . . so, Habakkuk keeps asking God (1:1) “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?” And if you read his book, Habakkuk accuses God of three things: indifference (vv. 1-2), inactivity (vv. 3-4) and inconsistency (vv. 5-17).
Abraham Lincoln became so angered at the inactivity of Union commander, George McClellan, that he wrote his commanding general this one-sentence letter: "If you don't want to use the army, I should like to borrow it for a while. Respectfully, A. Lincoln."
Who among us has not experienced some form of Lincoln-ish frustration? In the spiritual realm, when you are tempted to make slamming God a national sport because you think He is indifferent, inactive, and inconsistent ... then let me lift your chin at the start of this New Year. God answered Habakkuk and expressed that He indeed was accomplishing His purpose in His world:
1:5 God gives Habakkuk a revelation of His work. “Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”
2:2-3 Again God answers Habakkuk. “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time . . . and will not prove false.”
Look carefully and you will see that God uses the word ‘Revelation’, not ‘Explanation’. That is because, frankly God owes us no explanation. We might not like to hear this, but the reasons, says Habakkuk, are three-fold: (1) We could not understand it all to begin with, (2) we would not believe it anyway, (3) there is an appointed time. I mean, Jesus said as much to His disciples later in John 16:12, “I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now.”
Suppose God did explain things to us – why we are in the hospital, why that child died, why our spouse lost their job, why our child has turned their back on God – would we really feel better about it?
Having been given an explanation, would we love God more . . . trust Him more . . . seek Him more? Probably not. That is because explanations do not encourage faith ― promises do! God promises Habakkuk that He is working.
God is working carefully . . . completely . . . and constantly.
God is working faithfully . . . faultlessly . . . and fearlessly
God’s work is deliberate . . . diligent . . . and durable
God’s work is precise . . . perfect . . . and persevering
Paul reminds us, as we should remind ourselves, “All things ARE working together for the good of those who love God.” (Romans 8:28) Our problem is that we cannot see over the horizon. Still, why should that defeat us?
“Send me anywhere, only go with me. Lay any burden on me,
only sustain me. Sever me from any tie but the tie that
binds me to Your service and to Your heart.”
David Livingston, Field Diary, 1871
Habakkuk almost loses hope in God. He struggles to reconcile a loving God with His apparent indifference to the cry of the righteous and their suffering. But, as perplexed as he was over the success of the wicked, he had at least one thing going for him; he was willing to listen / wait on God.
God’s last recorded words in the book that bears Habakkuk’s name are found in 2:20: “The Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him” . . . and it was at that moment Habakkuk’s transformation took place – and he started to HOPE.
Listen to Habakkuk’s remarkable reply in 3:1 “Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds.” He continues (3:17-19) . . ./
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength.
He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to go on the heights.
Bad things do happen to people in this world. The blameless do suffer loss and the wicked flourish! And this is not going to change in 2023. Our problems can almost always be traced to our persistence in looking at the immediate difficulty itself, rather than seeing it in the light of a Sovereign Lord – who promises to be our strength.
If we will plant our faith in the deep soil of God’s Sovereignty; if we will hold fast in courage to his omnipotence, omniscience, and Lordship – then we will survive and live in Hope as 2023 begins. So, let me risk some pastoral advice:
We should never assume that God's silence necessarily means God's inactivity. When God does not seem to be acting, He may simply be busy behind the scenes buying the groceries, waiting for the ‘Trust’ meter in our lives to activate / climb higher.
We must learn to live with mystery. There are no easy, simple answers and explanations. Habakkuk comes to terms with that. Our life of trust calls us to let God do things His way and at times even go without any answers at all, yet still trust Him.
All our questions and struggles should never allow us to give up and call it quits. We are called to patience, persistence and faithfulness, even when living is difficult … and dying is hard.
Hope, when rooted in the right place, can never be destroyed. This is true for you as it is for me. As this New Year begins, I point you to the God of Hope . . . whose image you bear . . . and who knows where you live. “Only Saying …”
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