Hope looks to the future with an expectation of the good to come. It keeps you going, when nothing else will. For the Christian, Jeremiah said it best.
“The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” Lamentations 3:24
It is in God, the LORD that we have hope, a future, a possible good to come. Without the LORD, hope is a shrinking venue, contained only in the meager span of our remaining life, which moment by moment drains away, like water seeking a predictable exit, rushing to oblivion. Eventually the last drop falls and hope and life itself is gone for those who know not God.
That is why those without the LORD rail against the coming darkness, the night of non being. Dylan Thomas speaks for them. In May of 1951 he wrote a poem for his father titled Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night. Every verse ends with one of two refrains.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Or, as the poem itself ends,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Yes, there is rage as the long debt of sin comes due in death itself. Satan likewise follows the same pattern, as John notes in Revelation.
Woe to the earth and to the sea, because the devil has come down to you, having great rage, knowing he has a short time. Revelation 12:12b
Rage is the last stand against the loss of hope, the prospect of no future, the eventuality of all loss of meaning.
Yet, for the Christian, there is hope and that hope is centered in trust; trust in the Father; trust in the Son; trust in the Spirit; trust in the Three in One. Without that trust that God is righteous and true, trustworthy to the end, there could be no hope. But we trust in Him.
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you. Psalm 9:10
But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. Psalm 13:5
The taunters say, echoing the father of lies:
He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him; let him rescue him, for he delights in him! Psalm 22:8
So we do trust the LORD and He will deliver us.
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2
Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:4
Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. Jeremiah 17:7-8
Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel and delivered his servants, who trusted in him, and set aside the kings command, and yielded up their bodies rather than serve and worship any god except their own God. Daniel 3:28
For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise. And again, “I will put my trust in him.” And again, “Behold, I and the children God has given me. “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. Hebrews 2:11-15
We do not lose hope, for we trust in the source of all hope, the Triune God of our creation and salvation. In Him we hope and trust.
