By Haley Lewis | FāVS News Columnist
Sometimes the world can be a dark place. It may especially feel that way when it gets colder and the season changes to fall. It gets dark earlier because of daylight saving time. It may seem like if you leave in the morning for work when it’s dark, then when you leave after work it’s dark.
Right now things are a bit ambiguous with the government shutdown. School shootings, and shootings in general, in America are happening more and more. There seems to be a lot of heaviness going on right now, no matter what side of politics you are on.
Both seem a bit at odds. All of this brings me to the topic of hope.
Growing up with faith
I grew up as a Pentecostal Christian, which means we believed in salvation through faith in Jesus Christ, the belief in the Holy Spirit and the trinity and the expectation that Jesus will return to Earth during the rapture.
I can’t say that I am an expert, but I went every week, sometimes twice a week, since I was an infant and only stopped going so religiously when I was around 19. My family just sort of got out of the habit of going to church when my brother and I graduated high school.
I still remember how important hope is in the Christian faith though. The Bible often mentions it.
Some examples of Scriptures (paraphrased) that come to mind for me are: “Put your hope in God and he will guide you.” “Even if things are rough, put your hope and faith in God and he will make things better.” The biggest one is that, “God offers the best hope because he will give you eternal life.”
On the flip side, I’m an English major, and it makes me think of the Emily Dickinson poem, “Hope,” too. She writes, “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all.”
All these, whether Scripture or a quote, points that hope can bring you through hard times.
Questioning faith after loss
I sometimes struggle with the belief in God. I don’t know if it was one singular event or a combination of things for me.
A big event happened to me in 2017, and that was when my dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. I still don’t understand why such a good and young (he was 55 at the time) person would be taken away, only to be called “God’s plan.”
I’m a person who, as I’ve gotten older from my mid 20s until now in my mid 30s, questions everything and wants to understand the root behind things. Why do we do things? Why are things the way they are? It is a blessing and a curse because the questioning makes my brain get stuck at times and spiral. I think hope is one of those things that is hard for me. Even the concept is hard to grasp.
So it makes it hard for me to put my hope in God, at times. I think it can be hard when you have lost faith in God or are having a hard time believing. I used to think I was wrong for that, but I think it’s human nature to question things.
Hope in everyday moments
I can only do my best as a human. I think it can be hard to have hope as well, especially when things are uneasy in the world too. In this case, what do we put our hope in?
I think if we struggle with putting hope in God, we turn to things that give us joy. Maybe your hope comes from making the world a better place for your kids. Or you just want to make the world a better place for your neighbor/next generation of people.
Hope comes in when the sun shines or the fall leaves change into burnt colors. Hope is laughter with a loved one. Hope is traveling to a new city or country.
I think sometimes we have to put hope in things that we believe in before we can put hope in God. If you think about it, all these things are from God. God made our family, our friends/coworkers, the nature we see, our environment, etc. If we can hope in these small things, then really we are putting some hope in God.
God will reward us because he said if we even put forward the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. So, although I find hope a tricky subject at times, I do find the importance in having it… whatever it may be.
The views expressed in this opinion column are those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of FāVS News. FāVS News values diverse perspectives and thoughtful analysis on matters of faith and spirituality.
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Hope and faith are very similar. But they need a foundation.
Abraham was the father of faith. So why did he leave his home? He KNEW God was real. He KNEW God’s voice. He had experienced God, the only way any of us can KNOW that God is real.
If we haven’t experienced God then we have nothing to build hope and faith on. You even mention that your hope is built on experiences.
Is the world getting better? No. It will continue to slide downhill as God divides the sheep from the goats, wheat from the chaff, gold from the dross. Those that hear the voice of God, Is 30:21, John 10:27, 1:9, and OBEY, whether they know it is the voice of God or not, will be prepared for eternity. They will do what is right even if it is not popular. And those that resist the voice of God, NOT obeying it, even while proclaiming to be Christians, will be prepared for hell. Those that refuse to let God’s Spirit both will and do IN them, Phil 2:13, will have God’s Spirit withdrawn.
Why is God allowing this? Because, when He returns, judgement is over. There will be no 2nd chance. He will not allow sin (selfishness) to go on forever. Sin will be shown in stark contrast to God’s righteousness, not only for us but for the whole universe for eternity.
If you want a better understanding of what God is doing, imagine yourself as the ruler of the playground with about 30 children of various ages and it is your job to protect them from all the evil in the world. What would you do. Would you give them free choice? How would you protect them? What would you do to their enemies? People that want them to become like them?