Devotional by Dr. Wayne Peterson
May 24, 1998
Hope figures very large in Scripture. It means many things, the assurance of salvation, confidence of eternal life, and the guaranty of future resurrection. Hope is also a quality of the human spirit that, strengthened by the Holy Spirit and enriched by experience, empowers a person to resilience and perseverance. It's this quality of strength in the human spirit that I am concerned with here. Hope comprises courage, confidence, purpose, determination, and the ability to keep on even in adverse circumstances.
Hope gives power to the present. Several years ago the town of Flagstaff, Maine, was condemned to be sacrificed for a new hydroelectric development. Once that decision was made by the state legislature, the people of Flagstaff lost hope in their future. Soon the town would be under water. Months before that happened, all public building improvements and home repairs came to a dead stop. "What's the sense of painting the house if it's going to be covered with water in six months?" Week by week the town became more and more shabby and forlorn. It went to seed, long before the waters came, because its people had lost hope. The truth is where there's no hope for the future, there is no power in the present.
Psychologists have found that this kind of hope is an indispensable character strength for living in relationships. The psychologist Erik Erikson discovered the origin of hope in the loving, trusting relationship between infant and mother. From there, he says, it grows throughout life. As a person matures disappointed hopes are transferred to better prospects and the person is able to train his expectations to follow what proves to be possible. Throughout life the engine of hope provides the motivation to face change and crisis with resilience, and at the end of life it forms a major element in the wisdom of age that wards off despair and cynicism. On the other hand, hopelessness is now recognized by doctors as a major risk factor in the onset of both illness and death. Many counselors see hope as requisite to encountering the difficult situations of daily living and mastering them in order to improve the quality of life and relationship. Where there is hope in the future, there is power in the present.
What the Scripture is saying is that the Holy Spirit strengthens that virtue of expectation within us by giving us a potent and indomitable hope that empowers us for living life and facing death. In Col. 1:27 Paul admonishes us that Christ in us is "the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). In 1 Thes. 5:8 he calls the hope that comes from salvation a helmet for doing battle in life. In Romans 15:13 he prays for the members of the congregation, saying "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Rom. 15:13). We who are Christians have an added source of hope that gives us courage to reshape our circumstances to make them livable.
Hope was certainly a part of Agnes Fischer's makeup. Agnes was one of my church members. She lived to be 101 years of age. She was no dispirited cynic. When I knew her she was still living by herself and active in helping people by her culinary arts, her humor, and her volunteer service through our church. One Sunday when her ride didn't show up, she was so determined to get to Sunday School on time that she walked the seven blocks to church.
When I moved to that church, I had gotten sturdy boxes for transporting my library from some liquor stores. That's where you can get the strongest boxes. When I first met Agnes after moving, she let me know that she had seen those liquor boxes and when she went to the church secretary to ask about them she found her brewing some strong coffee. She wandered aloud if I had a drinking problem. She asked me about that in the presence of a dozen ladies of our church. When Agnes was 97, I visited her in her home. She asked me how old I was. I replied that I was 59. She responded emphatically, "Oh, you're young!" I thought about that for a while. I was 38 years younger than she was. That sounds pretty young. Agnes was probably the only member of my congregation who considered me young. She quickly became one of my favorite people. Her spirit was invincible. She had the courage born of hope to live life to the full instead of muddling through old age or giving up in despair.