Romans 15:13 - May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
There are many words in the Bible that are misunderstood or lose something in translation into English. I say I love pizza, but that doesn't exactly line up with the 1 Corinthians 13 definition of love. While this chapter defines love as something that 'never fails', I've had pizzas that were, in fact, major fails. Words like 'sin', 'judge', and 'goodness' in scripture have nuances that are often lost in modern English. But no Biblical word may be more misunderstood than the word "hope".
We usually use 'hope' interchangably with the word 'wish'. Teens say, "I hope the cute new boy notices me." Tourists say, "I hope the weather is nice for our trip" and sports fans say, "I hope my team wins today." All of these use the word 'hope' as if they were wishing for the best possible, but certainly not guaranteed, outcomes. But that is not hope. Faith, the author of Hebrews says, "is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In other words, hope is what we cling to between the promise made and the promise fulfilled. Hope is what the young lovers hold on to between the engagement and the wedding. It is what the child holds on to between writing their Christmas list and Christmas morning. For parents, it is the time between learning they are expecting until the time the baby is born.
Of course, we live in an imperfect world, and sometimes engagments are broken, kids don't always get everything on their Christmas list, and expectant mom's sometimes have miscarriages, but in this world, these are as close to true hope as anything. God, however, IS perfect, and He is sure to bring all of His promises to filfillment. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." If He promised He'll forgive His followers their sins, He will. If He promised a home in heaven, we can rest assured it is being constructed and will be ready when it's time to move in.If He promised the resurrection of the saints, someday we'll be popping up out of cemetaries all around the world.
While I learned the biblical definition of hope a while ago from my friend and pastor, Garrett, I think God has helped me truly internalize real hope in the last year or so. I have been dealing with sciatica for a while, and my hip can get painful and weak at times. (Interestingly, sciatica is actually caused in the lower back, but manifests in the hip. Shakira was wrong, sometimes the hips DO lie,) Anyway, this has caused me to have to troubleshoot a lot of juggling tricks; rework them in ways that look similar and equally pleasing to an audience, but done in a way that doesn't aggrevate my injury. In the process of working these things out, I have been aware that I never REALLY trusted God with the very ministry He gave me over 40 years ago. I WISHED I'd be able to keep going several more years, but I wasn't living in the HOPE God wanted me to hold on to through injuries and aging.There was always a haunting idea that God could pull the rug out from under me at any moment.
Now, if it is true that my juggling is Jesus's ministry and not my own, He does, in fact, have the right to say 'stop' any time He wants to. However, I believe God has shown me that my Gospel presentation through juggling is my life's calling (See my blog "A Piece of Bosco". )If that's true, why on earth would I think the Lord would, on a whim, decide to reneg on this promise. And here's the thing: I didn't strive to force this realization. Like so many eye-opening spiritual moments, this came spontaneously from the Holy Spirit, and went deeper than mere mental understanding. I knew that I knew God was pouring out His Hope on me
And, yes, perhaps some day I'll be too old to keep going at this, but my hope- my true HOPE - is that He is a good God who will see to it that I fulfill His calling for my life.