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Advent of Hope



          
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The prophet Jeremiah who lived in Judah (670-570 BC ) brings the message of  hope in the midst of wickedness and idol worship among the people of Israel who were in exile in Babylon. "'The days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good promise I made to the people of Israel and Judah. “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; He will do what is just and right in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord Our Righteous Savior.’ (Jeremiah 33:15-18).


Advent is a season of waiting in hope.  The hope is in a God who had been faithful in the past, is faithful today and will be faithful tomorrow. Advent has all three tenses - past, present and future in it.  A savior who came to this world, a savior who saves me now, and who will save be in eternity. It is about God who has come in the past, who comes in our lives today and and will be with us till eternrity.


The word for Hope in the Greek is Elpis and means ‘a favorable and confident expectation’. It has to do with a positive vision of the unseen and the future. Hope is not wishful thinking or a vague aspiration. It’s not ‘wanting’ things to turn out well. It is about being certain that they actually will turn out well in the midst of uncertainties. It means something that will absolutely, positively come to pass. It is not like saying that you hope the weather is going to be good tomorrow.  That is a wishful thinking.  But when you say that tomorrow is going to be Monday, it is not just a wishful thinking, it is a confident expectation knowing that it will be Monday tomorrow. 


Hope is the absolute certainty that God is just as good today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow.  Our faith is not based on blind ideologies or superstitions. It is based on a real and personal experience in a God who is almighty and powerful, at the same time personal and responsive. Waiting with hope is not easy.  The reality is that we as humans can lose hope very easily.  Because we forget very fast.  


I have waited and prayed with families in hospital waiting rooms. It is an agonizing time filled with sorrow, loneliness, and fear. Virtually every family tells me that waiting is the worst part. No one seems to enjoy this kind of sad and passive waiting. But another kind of waiting moves us to put up trees, light candles, and hang wreaths. This anticipation brings joy. It thrills our souls. We look forward to it all year long — waiting for the appearance of the Christ child. As we mark each day off the calendar, the excitement grows, moving us to acts of love and kindness toward friends and strangers alike. We wait, full of hope, because we know that good news is coming to a manger and into our hearts. This Advent, may we join the psalmist in singing, “I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.” (Psalm 130:6)


That sleepy guard on the last watch of the night stands in anticipation of the sunrise that will set him free from his toil. In a similar way, we wait this month with excitement for the appearance of the Son who will set us free.  In a Bible study group that had been asked the question, "In your time of discouragement, what is your favorite Scripture?" A young man said, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (Psalm 23:1)." A middle aged woman said, "God is my refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1)." Then Mr. John, who was 80 years old, said, “my verse is ‘and it came to pass’," which is not a complete verse. He explained: "at 30 I lost my job with six hungry mouths and a wife to feed. I didn't know how I would make it. At 40 my eldest son was killed overseas in the war. It knocked me down. At 50 my house burned to the ground. Nothing was saved out of the house. At 60 my wife of 40 years got cancer and went to eternity. But each time I looked in the Bible I saw one of those verses that included the phrase 'and it came to pass.'This story is less about recalling a favorite Bible verse or part of a verse  than about the virtue of hope. When things get dark and bleak around we have reason to believe that things will come to pass because we have a faith that gives us hope for a better tomorrow. 


God is Faithful! His Promises are sure. In the country of Armenia, in 1988, Samuel and Danielle sent their young son, Armand, off to school. Samuel squatted before his son and looked him in the eye. "Have a good day at school, and remember, no matter what, I’ll always be there for you." They hugged and the boy ran off to school. Hours later, a powerful earthquake rocked the area. In the midst of the pandemonium, Samuel and Danielle tried to discover what happened to their son but they couldn’t get any information. The radio announced that there were thousands of casualties.  Samuel then grabbed his coat and headed for the schoolyard. When he reached the area, what he saw brought tears to his eyes. Armand’s school was a pile of debris. Other parents were standing around crying. Samuel found the place where Armand’s classroom used to be and began pulling a broken beam off the pile of rubble.  He grabbed pieces of rocks and concrete one after another with his hands digging in the debris. Many people tried to pull Samuel away from his work because the site was unstable. All through the night and into the next day, Samuel continued digging with very few people to help.  After over 2 days of toil, when he picked up a beam and pushed it out of the way, he heard the faint cries of children.  They were able to save fourteen children who were in a sapce surrounded by concrete beams. Samuel took his son in his arms when Armand said, "I told the other kids not to worry because my dad told me that he would always be there for me!" 


How much more faithful is our heavenly Father?  Whether trapped by fallen debris or ensnared by life’s hardships and struggles, we are never cut off from God’s faithfulness.  He is true to His character.  He is reliable and trustworthy and can always be counted on. "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping His covenant of love is to a thousand generations…" (Deuteronomy 7:91).  "God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." (1 Corinthians 1:9).


May God will fill our lives with hope that moves us to acts of faithfulness during this Christmas season.



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