Sometimes hope doesn’t feel like anything
We’ve gotten confused about what hope is. We talked about this last week, a bit. We talked about false optimism, specifically. That’s one mistake we make- thinking that hope is somehow similar to optimism. Another mistake we make is believing that hope makes us feel better…or that hope is what comes to us once we start to feel better. But, biblically, there are so many examples of hope being about what happens before someone truly believes or trust that the future might be brighter than the present. Here’s an example.
May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
even as we put our hope in you.
~ Psalm 33:22, NIV
Here are a few things I notice about this passage. Placing hope in God seems to be an act of trust. This is the prayer of someone in a dark moment. They are not feeling hopeful about God. In fact, the act of placing hope in God seems unsettling. Because it’s so unsettling, they’re making a request: In exchange for my hope, surround me with love so that I can tolerate the challenge of placing my hope in You. That’s something, isn’t it? It’s very different than the false optimism of: I know you’re going to take care of me so I’m happy to place my hope in you.
A few other things I notice. Having hope doesn’t necessarily make us feel better. That’s why the person praying this prayer needs to be surrounded by love. Hope isn’t improving the emotional life of the pray-er. It’s more of a belief than a feeling, which suggests that hope, at least in this case, is more of a mental state than an emotional one. At the same time, that doesn’t mean we don’t receive something that helps us tolerate low hope and low belief. We do: it’s the love of God. The love of God helps us tolerate periods of low hope. And lastly, hope is a process- we are placing hope in God and trusting that doing so will have benefits. But having hope in and of itself does not immediately provide the benefit we’re looking for. That’s why we need love.
All that leads me to this: Hope is believing things can theoretically improve, even if we aren’t sure they will. Even if we’re worried they won’t. Even if our belief in the likelihood of them improving is small. And, while we’re waiting for these things to turn around or improve, love gives us the strength to carry on.
