Category: Advent 2020 – Hope

Hello to all those joining us today for the first time. We are on Day 4 of our journey through Advent focusing on the theme of HOPE.

For months the news of COVID deaths – of which my husband Gene was one – has cast a dark shadow over our land. Churches and schools have closed. People have canceled Christmas plans to gather with family and friends. Recently, however, the possibility of a new COVID vaccine has given hope to our nation. The stock market rises. People get careless about wearing face masks. But those hopes are only temporary. Another virus will emerge. The stock market which rose one day will fall the next. Our hopes turn out to be temporary.

When Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi heads back to her homeland, alone and penniless, Ruth and her sister-in-law Orpah travel with her. Naomi encourages them to turn back and return to their families. Normally, if one of her sons had died, the other son would marry the widow of his brother and provide for her. But Naomi has no more sons. “Can I still give birth to other sons who could grow up to be your husbands? No, my daughters, return to your parents’ homes…even if I said I have hope, and I were to get married tonight and bear sons, then what? Would you wait for them to grow up?” (Ruth 1:11-13) Naomi does not encourage false hopes.

False hopes result in disappointment and depression. Do we place our hope in a man-made vaccine to deliver us from this year’s virus or in a Bethlehem baby who delivers us for all eternity?

Welcome back to day 3 of our Advent series on the theme of HOPE. Feel free to invite a friend to join us on this journey!

When I begin a Bible study of a topic like hope, the first tool I reach for is my concordance. When I looked up the word “hope” in this index of all the words in the Bible, I was surprised to find that the word doesn’t appear in the Scriptures until the book of Ruth, and from there it jumps to the book of Job. Nothing about hope in the first seven books of the Bible? The word first appears in the story of Ruth, after a time when Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi has suffered through a famine and then the loss of her husband and both sons. And in Job, we find a man who has lost his family, his crops, his herds and his health.

Having just lost my husband, I understand their grief but also their need for hope. What is it about hard times that causes us to hope? If everything is going fine, then we have no need to hope for more. But when we are at the nadir of our difficulties, we yearn for health, we hope for restoration. In the depths of despair, Job says, “Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant my hope.” (Job 6:8)

When the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah was also in the pit of despair. His entire culture had been destroyed by the Babylonians. These invaders had burned the Temple, destroyed the walls of Jerusalem, and enslaved Jeremiah’s people. The prophet cried out, “The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time…yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness.” (3:19-22)

Has COVID worn you down? Will you be alone at the holidays? Reach into your Bible today and find the Author of Hope.

Thank you for returning as we start this 2020 Advent journey on the theme of HOPE.

My Texas grandchildren are named Simeon and Anna Hope. My son and his wife named their son and daughter for the two people whom Mary and Joseph met in the Temple when they went to dedicate their son Jesus.

Luke 2 describes Simeon as “a righteous and devout man. He was filled with the Holy Spirit and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.” Simeon had waited many years and hoped to see the Messiah before he died.

Anna was also in the Temple that day. A widow, 84 years old, she saw the baby and immediately began to talk “about Jesus to everyone who had been waiting for the promised King to come and deliver Jerusalem.” (Luke 2:38) Like Simeon, Anna hoped that Jesus would deliver Israel.

The Hebrew word for hope is tikvah, and it conveys a sense of expectation, of expectancy. It means “the thing that I long for.” In Psalm 130:5,6 says, “I am counting on the Lord…I have put my hope in His Word. I long for the Lord…more than sentries long for the dawn.”

As Christmas arrives this year, what is on your wish list? What do you hope for? Is it a new gadget, a vague feeling or is it something your heart truly yearns for?

What a year this has been! For me, it began with three major spinal surgeries, but for my husband Gene, the year marked his graduation from this life to the next. As I have said on other occasions, Gene got the better end of the deal. He no longer has to wear a face mask, socially distance himself from Jesus, or worry about election results. The coming weeks will mark Gene’s first Christmas in Heaven, something he looked forward to and hoped for all his life.

Advent is that time of year when we all hope for something that will arrive in the future, specifically the birth of Christ at Christmas, but also we have a hope of being with him forever in Heaven. With that thought in mind and also considering the ever-present COVID pandemic, I introduce the theme of Advent 2020: “HOPE.”

In the days ahead, we will explore the idea of hope, what the word means, what we are yearning for, and how we hold on to hope when our world seems to be crumbling around us. For today, however, meditate on this one fact: “Hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts by the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 5:5)

People may disappoint us but when God promises something, our hope is never frustrated. We can be confident that God will come through!

(Come back tomorrow to join me for the next installment in this study of hope!)