Audacious Hope
Scripture Reading — Lamentations 3:19-24
Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.
Hope is a Christian virtue. It’s a good and positive thing.
We need hope because the world is not yet the way God intends it to be. We need hope because we are waiting for things to get better. Hope means believing in the light even when we are in the darkness. Or, as Wendell Berry put it in his poem “Manifesto: Mad Farmer Liberation Front”: “Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.” Hope opens us to have joy whatever the facts may be.
The facts around us show that the world can be a scary place. But Christian hope is bold to say that even in the darkest times, God’s light still shines. Even when we are afraid, God remains in control of the universe, and he loves and cares for us more than we can imagine.
To those who do not know the Lord, hope might seem like a crazy virtue. If we consider the facts, we could be frightened about our lives and our world.
But because of the great love God has for us, we have reason for hope. We have reason to believe that we are safe in the care of a faithful and powerful God. We can boldly hope in God and in the promises God makes to us.
Faithful God, thank you for giving us reason to hope, even when our lives are difficult and the world seems like a scary place. Thank you for being true to your promises. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
About the author — Rebecca Jordan Heys
Rebecca Jordan Heys serves as a pastor at Calvin Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She and her husband, Kyle, are the parents of two children.
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