Our Creator hardwired us as humans to hope. It’s not a matter of if you hope, but of what you hope for or who you are hoping in. This Advent season provides us an opportunity to rediscover both the thrill and tension of hope.

What Do You Hope For?

It’s important to define hope, for our definition sets our destination. And as we will see, what we hope for sets the direction of our lives. Before defining what hope is, it can be helpful to consider what it is not. Hope is not simply having a “cup is half full” attitude where we generally have a positive outlook on life. The Bible often speaks of hope against the backdrop of dark and difficult times that hold no evidence of circumstances improving any time soon. Biblical hope is not mere optimism based on the odds, but instead is a choice to wait on God to bring about a promised future.^[1]

To put it another way, biblical hope is an intense anticipation for a better future based on the unchanging character and past faithfulness of God.

Biblical hope is an intense anticipation for a better future based on the unchanging character and past faithfulness of God.

The Thrill and Tension of Hope

There is both a thrill and a tension to biblical hope. It is a thrill because we know our hope is rooted in the promises of a faithful and unchanging God. As the cherished carol proclaims,

The thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

And yonder breaks a new and glorious morn^[2]

There is both a thrill and a tension to biblical hope. It is a thrill because we know our hope is rooted in the promises of a faithful and unchanging God.

But there is also a tension because the fulfillment of our hope necessitates waiting. In fact, the words the Bible uses to reveal the nature of hope are often translated to mean “to wait or to look for with eager expectation.”^[3] When the Bible refers to “waiting,” it has the effect of making or causing someone to hope, and conveys the idea of “confident expectation, trust”^[4] (see Psalm 27:14; 130:7; Isaiah 40:31). Interestingly, the “Hebrew word qavah is related to the word qav, which means cord. When you pull a qav tight, you produce a state of tension until there’s release. That’s qavah, the feeling of tension and expectation while you wait for something to happen.”^[5]

There is also a tension to biblical hope because the fulfillment of our hope necessitates waiting.

Pastor and author A.J. Sherill observes that Mary had to wait nine months for Jesus to be born, “therefore, during the season of Advent, we ought to be able to wait for one month.”^[6] Sherill goes on to say that the four-week season of Advent is intended to “help us cultivate waiting, hope, and longing. And longing isn’t short. Longing literally takes a looooooong time or it’s not really longing, is it?”^[7]

How to Live in the Thrill and Tension of Hope

A key question remains: how can we cultivate and fuel hope in a fresh way this Advent season so that we can freshly experience the thrill of hope while also living faithfully in the tension of it? Here are a few short suggestions:

Advent is for Adoration

It’s been said that there’s something, or rather Someone, waiting for you in the waiting. Since biblical hope is grounded in the person of Christ rather than the circumstances of life, it is wise to worship as we wait.

Like Mary, treasure up the Word in your heart. After the astonishing annunciation from the angel that Mary would be the one to bear and give birth to God in the flesh in the person of Jesus, the gospel writer Luke records that not long into her miraculous conception, she chose to worship. While visiting her relative Elizabeth, this song of adoration burst forth from Mary’s lips: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” (Luke 1:47). No doubt this song of praise continued while Mary hoped her way towards the fulfillment of God’s promise. On the very day Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph were paid a surprise visit by some lowly shepherds who delivered the news of the exciting heavenly revelation concerning Jesus. There were those among them who wondered what it meant, but it was Mary who treasured and pondered the word that was spoken: “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).

Hope is fueled in our lives not by wondering why God’s promise is taking so long, but by treasuring, pondering, and storing His Word in our hearts so that adoration will also burst forth from our lips and in our lives.

Confess False Hope

 Israel’s song and prayer book declares the truth that,

“The war horse is a false hope for salvation, 

and by its great might it cannot rescue” (Psalm 33:17).

Proverbs 13:12 wisely delivers this punch of revelation:

“Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Often, we lack a fresh recognition of the “living hope” we have in Christ because we set it on things that ultimately cannot deliver what they promise. Our hope is deferred because it’s often divided over a multitude of lesser things or people.

Yet one proven and biblical path for the thrill of hope to come alive again is to regularly examine our souls and confess anything and anyone that we are placing our hope in above God Himself.

I’ve often said that life with Christ is an endless hope and life without Christ is a hopeless end. When we regularly get honest and confess false hopes, it clears the way for us to receive the real thing found in communion with Christ and living according to His purposes.

Life with Christ is an endless hope and life without Christ is a hopeless end.

Advent is for Action

Hope is what tethers our lives to the promises of God and shapes the trajectory of living out God’s purposes for us. Or as one scholar aptly stated, “Christian hope is not a passive waiting for God to act, but an active participation in God’s redemptive work.”^[8] The season of Advent is often marked by hurry and a flurry of activities, pageants, concerts, shopping, hosting, events, and the list could continue ad nauseum. But rather than succumbing to the holiday hustle, what if we allowed biblical hope to slow us down to both look back to the first advent of Christ as a baby and renew our vision forward to His second advent? For “the further back you can look, the further forward you are likely to see.”^[9]

Hope is what tethers our lives to the promises of God and shapes the trajectory of living out God’s purposes for us.

This perspective will help us remember that “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1:20). The God of all hope calls us to lean into and live out these promises by joining Him in His gospel work. We are ones who, in our response and regard to the holiness of Christ, are to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you (1 Peter 3:15). Wait expectantly each day each day for the Lord to guide you into opportunities this Advent season to show the hope of Christ in both word and deed. Perhaps you will experience the thrill and tension of hope all over again.

Copyright © 2024 Justin Jeppesen. All rights reserved.

^[1] Adapted from https://bibleproject.com/bible-studies/yakhal-hope/

^[2] Adolphe Adam, Cited on: ​​https://genius.com/Christmas-songs-o-holy-night-lyrics

^[3]  Ben Craver, “Hope,” ed. John D. Barry et al., The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

^[4] Ibid.

^[5] https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/yakhal-hope/

^[6] Sherill, A. J. Rediscovering Christmas: Surprising Insights into the Story You Thought You Knew. Waterbrook. 2024. P. 4.

^[7] Ibid.

^[8] Wright, N.T. Surprised by Hope. Harper One. 2018

^[9] Ibid.