You Gotta Have Hope

My wife Beth's devotion for our church for this past Sunday 

You Gotta Have Hope

By Beth Stroble

You may have heard this cautionary statement in a variety of settings voiced by individuals with different political viewpoints or business perspectives: “Hope is not a strategy.”  Many attribute the statement to the late football coach Vincent Lombardi, with this corollary: “Fear is not an option.”  Apparently, neither statement can be verified as his.  Yet, they capture in succinct ways a perspective that came to mind as I thought about abundant hope, the focus of this week’s message.

The prophet Isaiah encourages and assures the people of God’s redemptive power, repeating the Lord’s own message: “Don’t fear, for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; when through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you won’t be scorched and flame won’t burn you.” (Isaiah 43: 1-2).

Such vivid images of the threats to life!  How difficult for us, if faced with these physical sources of harm and destruction, to lay claim to these promises!  Much less can rattle me, shaking my confidence and sense of security. Then I think of David’s faithful words from the 23rd Psalm: “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff—they protect me.”

These scripture passages address that second apocryphal assertion, that fear is not an option.  But what about hope? How does hope figure in the absence of fear?  While hope may not be a strategy, I think abundant hope is at the heart of facing fear. It’s a matter of where hope resides.  If we approach hope as a strategy, then we may be placing our hope primarily in our own power, abilities, or skills. If instead we hold hope as a result of our trust and confidence in already being redeemed by God, our hope resides in a power greater than our own.  Thanks be to God.

Absent hope, our fears are magnified. Absent hope, cynicism creeps in. Absent hope, we cling to what gives us false security, even to our own peril.

Turning those two statements around, it might be more useful for us as God’s children to say: “Fear is not an option.  Hope in the Lord with all your heart.”

No strategy for our lives can succeed without that kind of hope. Let us proclaim, in the words of these great hymns, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness,” “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine,” “If thou but suffer God to guide thee, and hope in God through all thy ways, God will give strength, whate’er betide thee.”

Hope, abundant hope, is loving and trusting in God’s eternal care. In the words of the song verse from the musical Damn Yankees, “Ya gotta have hope.”  Lack of hope is not an option. It is what carried the people from the Babylonian exile on their return to Jerusalem.  It is what will carry us through the challenges of our day.

Lord God, creator, redeemer, holy comforter, in these times of so much that rocks our confidence and inner peace, help us hold to our hope in you.  Restore us when we falter. Strengthen our confidence in your care. Remove our fear. And give us the courage to be givers of hope to others, messengers of the abundant hope found only in you.  Amen.