(First of all, if there are those of you who miss my online presence, even a little, I apologize. I fail miserably at this blogging thing of late. On a positive note, this is my first blog of the new year! Yipee. On yet another note, given the scholarly flair this blog is soon to take, I have found the longer I go without blogging, the more study I feel I need to pour into my work. :P)
Perhaps you cannot tell from previous post(s), but I really have a thing for the word hope. Not just the word, I love everything about hope itself. I love the perspective it gives to my past, my present and my future. And as I sit here and indulge in a couple of life's greatest pleasures--sweat pants and a homemade London fog-- I feel incredibly hopeful about an evening all to myself, no roommates home nor heading out into sub zero temperatures.
There was a short, difficult season of my life that I went through just over a year ago. During that time, every friend I had pray for/over me somehow wove the word "hope" into their prayers. Since then, it has become such a precious word. Not only does it give me warm fuzzies when I hear it, I also associate it with deep, personal and theological meanings. It's a powerful word, and it demands something powerful out of the deepest part of who we each are when we are faced with trial.
There is another word that dictionaries list as a synonym to the word hope and it's expectation. Going in to writing this blog, I thought I knew the difference, but now that I am writing, I am realizing that, though the Bible marks a difference, I am not sure if I know how to draw the line between the two.
I'm not joking a little bit when I tell you that, at this very moment, I have a Greek and Hebrew lexicon open in my browser and I am pouring over definitions to see what the writer may have meant in Proverbs 10:28 about the difference between hope and expectation. Surprisingly, the definitions, even in the original language, are quite similar. So why are we called to hope? Why are we warned against expectation? And then I consider...what if the difference between hope and expectation is not the action itself, but the item to which that hope or expectation is attached?
In Psalm 62:5, it says, "For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is in him." The same word here, that is translated "hope" is the same Hebrew word translated "expectation" in Proverbs 10:28. Here, the writer has expectation, but it is in the Lord. In Romans 5:5, it says that our hope, specifically, in Christ, does not disappoint. A "wicked" person -- or one that does not have the same claim on Christ, has no such thing.
I've heard it said that "hope is open, expectation is closed." I used to think that expectations always brought disappointment. However, the smallest hope can disappoint just as easily as the greatest expectation and expectation fulfilled can bring just as much joy and happiness as something hoped for. If I thought hope brought joy, it's because of the object that my hope is attached to. If my expectations bring disappointment, it's because of the object I've placed my expectation in.
While may be true that in hope, you hold things more loosely, so if things fall through, there would be less disappointment. Likewise, if someone holds to an expectation, there may be a certain anxiousness or worry that comes along with it and huge heartache when that something taken as a given or expected to happen doesn't.
All over the Psalms, the reader is exhorted to "hope in the Lord." The Hebrew word that is most often used in this phrase (from my little bit of research) is "yachal" and it combines the definitions of "wait, hope and expect." It even is defined with the English word "tarry" which means to wait or stay in a certain place. How often does hoping for and believing for something make us feel like we have chosen to set up tent at a less-than-desirable campground? However, how quickly we forget when our hope is fulfilled! And how much regret we find when the reverse happens.
And this is what it boils down to: The Lord does not disappoint. If He gives us hope, we can be sure we will receive ten-fold. If our expectation is in man, or a desire we ourselves are trying to fulfill, we can be sure it will end in frustration and/or heartache. This is why we must go to Him with our deepest longings and desires. He gives us the perspective we so desperately need in order to place our hope where it truly belongs.
In short: Hope in the Lord and expect nothing other than Him.
Choose to hope in the Lord for 2012.
From the bottom of my heart,
Jenn
