Meditation: Week 2

Hope: Living in the Now and the Not Yet

Where do you need hope this Advent? 

Hope anchors us for our spiritual journey (Heb. 6:19-20).  It acknowledges that we live in two realities: the ‘now’ and the ‘not yet.’  We are redeemed saints, yet we are capable of monstrous sin; containers of the divine, ridiculously petty.  Hope speaks to us from the perspective of pilgrimage (Heb. 11:13).  We are people on the way, not there yet, not what we should be yet; but one day, we shall be like Jesus.  He has committed to making it so, to completing what He started in us (Phil. 1:6). 

This hope says:

“I will not let you go unless you bless me.”—Gen. 32:26

“Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.”—Job 13:15

“Nevertheless, not my will but yours be done.”—Matt. 26:39

This is not the ‘wishing’ kind of hope, which is way too wishy-washy for people on the Way.  No, this is the robust hope that is required to walk with the Living God. 

The men who said these words were not masochists nor were they seeking martyrdom.  They were wrestling with their God, facing life-threatening situations.  They knew God as the God of all hope, the God of the impossible, who makes all things new, who brings life out of death.  If they let that God go, they had no hope, and even physical death was preferable.  Where hope is abandoned, when one turns from this God, a spirit of death invades.    

Both Judas and Peter were men who betrayed Jesus; they caved into some fierce pressures and let go of God.  When they realized what they had done, they responded differently.  Both were stricken with remorse.  Judas hung himself.  Peter wept bitter tears, but allowed Jesus to come and speak with him.  He received healing, forgiveness, and a ministry.  Judas missed the ‘not yet’ aspect of his faith.  Peter’s hope was that Jesus would continue what He started in him. 

Where do you need hope this Advent?

Is there anything that you bitterly regret, but see no hope for change (whether in yourself or others)? 

Spend some time with the God of all hope, and let Him speak to you.  You may want to look up some passages on hope.  When you are ready, move from this meditation to your creative process.  How will you ‘image’ what He is saying to you?  How is God giving you hope this Advent?