Hope Beyond Hope

Follow Me: Biblical Practices for Faithful Living

 

For Advent this year, we will continue our look at spiritual disciplines by focusing on hope. As I think about this word and its importance for us, a particular phrase comes to mind.

 

Have you ever heard someone say they were hoping against hope? At first, it feels redundant, oxymoronic, and nonsensical, but I understand it to mean that you inexplicably find yourself hopeful despite evidence to the contrary.

 

You may or may not know, but the phrase comes from the Bible. Paul uses it when he is talking about Abraham, who, despite very real biological challenges of being in his 90’s hoped against hope that he would be the father of many nations (Romans 4:18).

 

The phrase can also be translated another way: ‘hope beyond hope.’ But either way, a hope against another hope, or a hope beyond a hope, gets me thinking about the different kinds of hope we experience, and also their sources.

 

On one hand, there are things that I hope for. I hope for a great holiday season with my family. I hope I’ll finish my Doctorate in Ministry degree in 2026. I hope I don’t get cancer. Those things usually come from an internal desire. Abraham hoped he would have kids. But alas, sometimes our hopes don’t work out.

 

But then, some things also come from the outside to give us hope. Like things that might surprise us and challenge our expectations. Like when someone is full of gratitude despite a very difficult circumstance. Or when you see someone doing something incredibly generous. Or when someone on the opposite end of the political spectrum goes against the party line because of an internal ethic. Those moments can infect you. Change your thinking. Your posture. Your heart.

 

The Bible is full of these stories. God’s promise to Abraham that he would have a child. God’s promise to free the people from slavery. Isaiah’s word that a new baby will be a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Stories that counteract our pessimism, cynicism, skepticism…our despair. Stories that awaken our sense of hope, even when you’ve lost your own source of it. A hope beyond hope.

 

I don’t want to sound cheesy here. Like I’m just trying to rekindle that holiday magic. Rather, I suppose what I’m trying to get at is that the stories we tell this time of year are all more important for us to retell and remember the farther away our hope feels.

 

This Advent, my prayer is that we would discover a hope beyond our own. A hope that, despite our doubts and fears, might transform us into hopeful people. Even when, or maybe, especially when, it seems absurd.

 

Be well and do good,

 

Pastor Dan