EPOH — When We Have Hope Backwards

We use the word hope all the time.

“I hope this works out.”

“I hope things get better.”

“I hope the money comes.”

“I hope God opens this door.”

“I hope the answer is yes.”

There is nothing wrong with wanting any of those things. We all have desires, prayers, expectations, and circumstances we would like to see change. Yet somewhere along the way, our everyday use of the word hope has become so familiar that we can easily carry that same definition into our relationship with God.

In everyday conversation, hope often means, “I really want this to happen, but I don't know if it will.”

That is why I started thinking about the word HOPE written completely backwards.

EPOH.

The letters are all there. Nothing is missing. At first glance, we can even recognize what the word is supposed to be. But everything is facing the wrong direction.

I wonder if sometimes we do the same thing with hope.

We have the right word, but we understand it backwards.

We say we are hoping in God, but what we really mean is that we are hoping a particular situation will turn out the way we want. We pray about something, imagine the outcome we desire, and then attach the word hope to our expectation.

If it happens, our hope feels justified.

If it doesn't happen, we feel disappointed, confused, or perhaps even abandoned by God.

But what if biblical hope was never meant to guarantee the outcome we wanted?

Romans 5 gives us a very different picture.

Paul writes that “tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint” (Romans 5:3–5).

That is an interesting place to talk about hope.

Paul doesn't introduce hope after everything has worked out. He introduces it in the middle of tribulation.

There is difficulty.

There is perseverance.

There is the development of character.

And then there is hope.

If biblical hope simply meant believing that our circumstances would turn out the way we wanted, Paul's words would be difficult to understand. Instead, he shows us a hope capable of growing while life is difficult.

Then he tells us why that hope does not disappoint: “because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

The foundation of the hope Paul describes is not the outcome of the circumstance.

It is God.

That changes the direction of hope entirely.

Biblical hope does not say, “I know this will happen because I want it to happen.”

It does not say, “I prayed, therefore God must answer exactly as I expect.”

It does not say, “If I believe strongly enough, everything will work out according to my plan.”

Biblical hope can look directly at uncertainty and still remain steady because its confidence is not resting in what happens next.

Its confidence rests in the character of God.

I can desire something deeply and still hope in God.

I can pray specifically and still hope in God.

I can believe God is able to change my circumstances and still hope in God.

But those things become backwards when my confidence in God begins depending upon whether He gives me the outcome I desire.

There is an important difference between hoping for something and placing my hope in Someone.

I can hope for healing.

I can hope for provision.

I can hope for restoration.

I can hope for an opportunity.

I can hope for a prayer to be answered in a particular way.

But underneath every one of those desires must remain something stronger: my hope in God Himself.

Otherwise, without realizing it, I may begin treating the outcome as evidence of God's goodness.

If the door opens, God is good.

If the money comes, God is faithful.

If the relationship is restored, God heard me.

If the circumstances improve, God is with me.

But what happens when the door remains closed? What happens when provision arrives differently than we expected? What happens when the relationship isn't restored or the circumstances don't change?

Did God's character change?

Of course not.

Perhaps what needs to change is our definition of hope.

Hope was never intended to be a spiritual word for wishful thinking. It was never supposed to depend upon our ability to predict what God would do next.

Biblical hope gives us something far more secure.

It allows us to say, “I don't know what will happen, but I know the One in whom I have placed my hope.”

That is not uncertainty pretending to be faith.

That is faith standing firmly in the middle of uncertainty.

Maybe some of us have been discouraged because we believed hope failed us when something we hoped for didn't happen.

Perhaps hope didn't fail.

Perhaps we had hope backwards.

We were looking toward the outcome when biblical hope was always pointing us toward God.

There is freedom in turning the word around again.

We can still desire.

We can still pray.

We can still ask.

We can still believe.

But we no longer require the outcome to prove that God is trustworthy.

Our hope rests somewhere much stronger than that.

It rests in Him.

“If my definition of hope depends upon getting the outcome I want, I may have hope backwards.”

Reflection

Have I confused biblical hope with simply hoping something will happen?

Perhaps today we can take an honest look at the things we say we are “hoping for” and ask ourselves where our confidence actually rests.

Because when hope is facing the right direction, it does not begin with the outcome we want.

It begins with the God we trust.

Much Love

~Gayla~