Hope: Not Just a Fuzzy Feeling

A Bible Study About Hope (part 1)

I knelt beside my bed, lips moving in fervent prayer that God would intervene and save my daddy from a suicide-by-cop ending to a life of PTSD, alcoholism, and depression. He was upset because in his suicidal state, we had removed his guns from the house—not something this Vietnam veteran was taking lightly. But fearing for his life, we contacted the sheriff’s department, not really knowing what else to do.

They had a plan to take him in peacefully so he could be transported to the veterans’ hospital for treatment. But we had forgotten something very important: he still had a rifle we had overlooked. And now he was threatening to use it. If this story sounds scary, it’s because it was. But in the chaos, darkness, and fear, I had such a moment of clarity: God is in control. His grace is sufficient. His Word is powerful. His presence is here. So, I knelt beside my bed, Bible laid out before me, praying God’s Word back to Him and holding to those promises like a toddler clinging to her daddy’s hand in a crowded mall. In that moment of time, everything else stood still. I was in the presence of God where there was hope.

Hope is a tenuous concept, seemingly dependent upon our thoughts and feelings. It is defined as a “feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen” (Oxford Dictionary). But that’s the world’s definition. If we want to truly know what it is to have hope in dark and difficult days, we need to look to God’s Word. The Old Testament uses several different Hebrew words that we translate hope, but all of them mean to wait for, expect, or look for. And as we turn to today’s study in Hebrews, our New Testament Greek word for hope adds this: “an attitude of confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial” (The NIV Exhaustive Bible Concordance).

In other words, when the Bible speaks of hope, we aren’t talking about a fuzzy feeling or a warm thought. Biblical hope is attitude and action. It’s not just an end-of-my-rope, nowhere-else-to-turn mentality. Hope is the “anchor of the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19). Please read our passage for today’s study: Hebrews 10:19-25

Hebrews is such an interesting book because no one knows who really penned it, yet it is theologically one of the most important books of the Bible, professing the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Christ. Written to Jewish converts familiar with the Old Testament, Hebrews claims repeatedly that Jesus is superior to the angels, to Moses, to the priesthood, to the old covenant, and to the earthly tabernacle. In the OT, God established the tabernacle system of worship as a foreshadowing of what would be accomplished in Christ. The burnt offerings represented the blood that must be shed for the remission of sins. God’s presence dwelled between the cherubim on the mercy seat in the Most Holy Place, separated from the rest of the tabernacle by a thick curtain. Only the high priest could enter to sprinkle the blood on the ark, and then only once a year on the Day of Atonement.

When Jesus, our Great High Priest, shed His blood to make atonement for our sins, He made a way for us to come into the presence of God. We are no longer a sinful people separated from a holy God. We are a saved and sanctified people, who have access to the throne room of a holy God because of the sufficiency of Christ. And therein lies our hope. No matter what we face in this life, as followers of Jesus we have full assurance of faith that we can draw near to God. He is with us. He is faithful. That is the hope we have in uncertain times. And that hope anchors our souls because His promise is sure. Like an anchor that holds a mighty ship secure in a storm, this hope moors us in the certainty of His very presence where there is peace. We are not alone. Regardless of feelings or thoughts, hope is the attitude that says, “No matter the outcome, all is well because the God of the universe is with me.” Hope is what gives vision to our faith. 

“Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1).

Because hope is “confidently looking forward to what is good and beneficial,” faith knows what to set its sights on. Faith has a substance and a certainty because our hope is in Christ alone. And He cannot fail. When armed with the understanding of who God is, we can come boldly to His throne of grace, expecting mercy, grace, and help in our time of need (Hebrews 4:16).

God heard my prayers that night. All went well and daddy was admitted to the hospital. It wasn’t the end of his story because God has the final word. If your heart is struggling to hold onto hope right now, remember it’s not about what you feel. Hope is about looking ahead to who you know God to be. Spend some time studying the attributes of God so you can be confident of the One in whom you put your hope.

Here are some verses to get you started:

• God is omniscient or all-knowing: Psalm 139:1-4, Psalm 147:5, Isaiah 40:28, 1 John 3:20
• God is omnipotent or all-powerful: Isaiah 43:13, Jeremiah 32:17, Matthew 19:26, Colossians 1:15-17
• God is omnipresent or all-present: Psalm 139:5-12, Proverbs 15:3, Isaiah 57:15, Jeremiah 23:24
• God is love: Psalm 86:15, John 3:16, John 15:13, Romans 5:8, 1 John 4:8, 16, 19
• God is good: 1 Chronicles 16:34, Psalm 34:8, Psalm 100:5, Psalm 136:1, Matthew 7:11