Many of us face tremendous uncertainty in various areas of
life:
Uncertainty about our professional future or our finances;
Uncertainty about whether (or when) our country might fall
apart;
Uncertainty about our health or relationships.
I was encouraged recently to remember that the Greek word used by Paul for “Hope” (“Elpis”) is actually better translated as "confident expectation." Elpis implies that something is going to happen, and the subject is anticipating it with confidence. Rather than “hoping” that the promises of God might possibly come to pass, we can trust that even as we grieve tremendous loss, we grieve in certainty. We can be certain in the redemption of all things, including our most difficult sufferings. We can be certain that the God that spoke the entire universe into being by His words promises that we who mourn will be blessed (Matthew 4); that our sufferings bring Glory to God because they demonstrate God’s power (2 Corinthians 4), and that it will, somehow, someday, be ultimately for the good of those who love Him (Revelation 8:28).
There are over 50 uses in the New Testament of “hope” (Elpis). While we might be uncertain about our circumstances, we can be certain in all that God has promised for us in and through his son, Jesus Christ. Romans 15:13 reads “May the God of confident expectation fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with confident expectation by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Thanks, friends, for your encouragement to us as we mark 15
years since Micah’s homegoing.
