Abound in Hope

Guest Blogger: Seth Dixon

Now may the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

The present time seems to be that of uncertainty, often with great sadness and disappointment. It is both a time of long, drown out boredom and melancholy coupled with frantic fear and crisis for many. It is also a time of opportunity, of learning how to love our friends and neighbors well, of cultivating community and trimming the hedges of our prayer lives. It’s an opportunity to change old habits, to invest in our creative outlets, or to do nothing at all, if that is what is needed. It is an opportunity to open our hearts to trust God, and hope for great things to happen, in fact, it is an opportunity for exponential hope.

Personally, I am learning what it means to hope through longing for God to do something spectacular in this hour. The global impact of this apparent shaking tells me that God wants to tell us something, to awaken us to His power, glory, and goodness in the midst of crisis. I am hoping and believing for a Deus ex machina moment. Deus ex machina literally means “God out of the machine”, and is a plot twist used in story-telling, where a problem that is seemingly unresolvable is suddenly, completely resolved by an outside intervention. Some examples would be the destruction of pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea, the United States entering into World War I, or in Tolkien’s “The Hobbit”, Gandalf and his eagles rescuing the hobbits from imminent danger. My own walk with God has shown me that God loves to go beyond what I have expected of Him at just the right time, and I hope that He will do that here. Personally, I believe it would be an awesome spectacle to see God intervene here in the Easter/Passover season. What a testament to His resurrection power and faithfulness to His people. I do believe He is not seeking to do this arbitrarily. He is calling His people back to Himself, and calling all people to repent of their sins and put their trust in Him. He is stirring us to wake us up.

This is my hope, and it’s one that some would call foolish or irrational because it would defy the current statistics. Some would call it presumptuous, but I do not believe hope to be presumptuous. Hope in a seemingly impossible thing is no more illegitimate than hope in something that could likely happen. It would be presumptuous for me to have faith in something to happen without an assurance of what I am hoping for (as faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not yet seen), but hope does not need to mature to faith for it to be valid. My faith is in the person of Jesus, bearing witness to His goodness, and understanding that no matter what happens, He is good, and He loves me.

Some would ask, “Why hope in something to happen that could disappoint you?” To that, I answer that the risk of being disappointed does not outweigh the joy of hoping for something big. There is always a risk to something big and valuable. Entering into a romantic relationship poses the risk of a hard breakup, but the relationship is worth it. Adopting a pet proposes the risk of lots of messes, late nights, early mornings, and vet bills, but for many, the joy of fuzzy snuggles outweigh the risks. I am aware of the fact that I could, even may, be disappointed, but I can look back on this time and say that at least I tried. I did not roll over to the “Que será será” of statistics and thought leaders, but I believed that God was bigger than our present situation. I can say that my spirit-energized faith in God (in how He is slow to anger and rich in mercy, that He loves to heal and be the help of His people, and that He is grieved by our afflictions) brought me to hope in Him to show the world His saving power.

Save, Lord! May the King answer us when we call.

Psalm 20:9