This has been a long one in coming…long enough that I am going to break it into pieces given that I don’t know when I will write the next section. This might turn into a year-long seriel…who knows.
Anyway, just about a year ago circumstances I found myself in made me really start wondering about this topic. Understanding has come “line upon line” and, as with so many things, there have been periods where those lines felt like they were coming fast and furious and other long periods where my attention was elsewhere and understanding came very slowly. Certainly there are many more “lines” to come and my understanding of this (and any other topic) will be in constant evolution, but here is a snapshot of what has come thus far.
Have you ever had there experience of thinking you were ready for something – thinking you were physically, mentally and spiritually prepared – only to discover when it happened that you were woefully unprepared? Instead of feeling like you hit the ground running, it feels like the ground hit you unaware at 200mph leaving you in a dark place, void of the ability to see any light ahead? The details are not important here, but over the last year I’ve had a few such moments. It got me wondering about “hope” (perhaps because I wasn’t feeling much of it during those times)…
My entire life I've heard about the 3 connected ideas of "Faith", "Hope" and "Charity". Like the appendages of a 3-legged stool, I know all three are important. I know that they are all interconnected in some way(s) and that should one of these 3 be removed, the structure would not be able to support weight. In some basic ways at least, I feel I understand what faith and charity are (even though it remains a life-long quest to increase my understanding and application of these characteristics in the way I live my life). However, hope has always been a little less clear to me -- more vague. It is harder to define and harder to identify, I think, than faith or charity. So, what exactly is it? When the scriptures speak of "hope", what exactly do they mean? What is hope based on? Or in other words, what knowledge must be in place in our minds before we are able to have the kind of hope spoken of in the scriptures? What is the precise interaction of faith and hope; where does one begin and the other end, or is such a point impossible to identify? Does hope build faith or does faith build hope? How does hope manifest itself in my life? Does it manifest the same in other's lives, or is hope an intensely personal thing like the ways each person feels the spirit a little differently? What does the absence of hope feel like and how can I identify when that is the condition I am experiencing? How is hope an "anchor"? (Ether 12:4) What does that mean in practical terms in my life? What are the fruits of hope? Or, in other words, what can we expect to feel or experience when we have hope?
I have thought much on these questions; read, prayed, studied and asked for the thoughts and opinions of others who's opinions I highly regard. I have found answers in all of these places and expect to continue to find answers. Just as in everything in the gospel, I don't think I've come to completely understand the depths of what hope truly is, but I do feel I understand it better than I used to. I expect that what I end up writing here will be useful as a starting ground or a foundation upon which a lifetime of further learning can be added. I simply wanted to try and write some of this down in order to help what I have learned become more organized and clear in my mind.
DEFINING HOPE
To begin, I think the world and the scriptures seem to use the word "hope" a little differently. In the world's definition, "to hope" simply means "to wish" or "to want". For example, how many times have I said something like "I hope I do well on my upcoming test" or "I hope (insert anything I want at the time) happens." These statements express nothing much deeper than what I want to have happen or how I would like a particular situation to pan-out. Now, there is nothing wrong with these statements. There is nothing wrong with feeling this way or expressing these kind of things. But I don't think they convey the depths of what the scriptures express when they use the word "hope".
Having said that, what is the scriptural meaning of "hope"? I have posed this question to several people and the definition that seems most complete and concise is that hope, in a scriptural sense means to have a joyful assurance of blessings to come (see Alma 22:15-16, Ether 12:4,8-9, Moroni 7:48). This, I think is a lot more than simply wanting or wishing. I think a scriptural example that I heard years ago best shows what is meant in the scriptures by the word hope and how it may differ from simply wanting or wishing.
A quick review of the story of Abraham, Sara & Isaac:
· Abraham & Sara are OLD, but receive the promise that they will have posterity and that the blessings of the gospel would come to the earth through their posterity (see Genesis ch. 18 & Abr. ch. 2). Under normal circumstances, this would be impossible because Sara was too old to have a baby by traditional methods – the only way this blessing could be fulfilled was by divine intervention.
· Indeed, the Lord fulfilled his promise and Sara had a son, Isaac.
· The remainder of the story is well known: the Lord commands Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham, Isaac and Sara’s faithfulness were tested in what is now known as an “Abrahamic Trial” (see D&C 101:1-5)
o This story has many applications to living a faithful life, though it is not what I wish to focus on. I want to take a minute and focus on the hope Abraham & Sara needed in this situation.
With this story in mind, we turn to the quintessential scriptural chapter on faith: Hebrews ch. 11
In Hebrews 11:11, we read:
Through faith also Sara herself received strength
To conceive seed, and was delivered
of a child when she was past age,
because she judged him faithful who had promised.
(emphasis added)
Let me re-emphasize the line in this verse that says, “…she [Sara] judged him [The Lord] faithful who had promised…”
Certainly the Lord is our judge and the time will come when we will make an accounting to him for how we have lived our lives. This is what automatically jumps to my mind when I hear the word “judge” in a gospel context – but in a very different sort of way, we are to judge the lord just as Sara did. What do I mean by saying we are supposed to judge the lord? When the Lord promised Sara the blessing of having a child in her old age, Sara could have judged that promise to be absurd. She could have “judged the lord” and determined that such a blessing was impossible, or perhaps she could have believed that such a miracle was within the Lord’s power, but not something that he would ever bless her with. But this is not what Sara did. In a very real way, Sara judged the lord and found him “faithful”, meaning that she not only believed that the Lord had the power to bless her with a child, but also believed that such a blessing could be given to her. In other words, Sarah felt an assurance that what the Lord promised to her, the Lord would deliver on.
With this insight, Hebrews 11:6 gains even more meaning for me:
But without faith it is impossible
to please him: for he that cometh to God must
believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
In order to exercise faith, and indeed, in order to please God, we must do a couple of things. First, we must believe that God is – meaning we must believe that God is real, that he is there; this is a logical first step. Second (and this is where I believe most members of the church have a problem. At least I know it is where I often start having a problem) we must believe that God is a rewarder of those who seek his blessing. In other words, we must “judge the Lord faithful” of the promises He has made to us (especially that of eternal life); we must truly believe that He can & will uphold His promise and that His promises apply to us personally. We can and must have an assurance that the Lord will deliver on His promises. Without these two things, we can not please the Lord, nor can we receive the promised blessings.
Unfortunately, I think it is all too easy to judge the lord unfaithful, or in other words, to believe that either:
1. The promise that the Lord gives to us (particularly those promises pertaining to eternal life) are not really as great as the Lord says it is, and that it is a fair trade to give up eternal life for a momentary pleasure
OR
2. Believe that eternal life is great, but that it is way too far out of reach for a normal person like me. The Lord’s promise of eternal life doesn’t apply to a rotten sinner like me and that I am too far gone to be helped.
This is essentially the same point that Stephen Robinson made in his book Believing Christ. Robinson puts it this way:
Unfortunately, there are many members of the church who simply do not believe this [that the atonement can make us clean]. Though they claim to have testimonies of Christ and of his gospel, they reject the witness of the scriptures and of the prophets about the good news of Christ’s atonement. Often these people naively hold on to mutually contradictory propositions without even realizing the nature of the contradiction. For example, they may believe that the Church is true, that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, while at the same time refusing to accept the possibility of their own complete forgiveness and eventual exaltation in the kingdom of God. They believe in Christ, but they do not believe Christ. He says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. I can make you pure and worthy and celestial,” and they answer back, “No, you can’t. The gospel only works for other people; it won’t work for me.”
Yet the “good news” of the gospel is good news to me not because it promises that other people who are better than I am can be saved, but because it promises that I can be saved – wretched, inadequate, and imperfect me. And until I accept that possibility, until I believe Christ when he says he can bring me into his kingdom and set me on a throne, I have not really accepted the good news of the gospel – I have only accepted the messenger while rejecting his wonderful message.
THE FOUNDATION OF HOPE
Now, going back to the story of Sarah, I think Sarah not only demonstrated great faith but I think the whole episode shows her hope in Christ. I think it also shows the foundation hope must be based on. What do I mean by this? The prophet Joseph Smith taught in the Lectures on Faith that faith must be built on a foundation. In other words, we must have a knowledge base upon which our faith rests: We must know that God lives before we can exercise faith in Him. We must have a knowledge of his character and attributes – that He is merciful and just, loving, all-knowing and all-powerful, etc. This knowledge must be in place and serve as a foundation upon which our faith is built. Similarly, I think hope must be built on a foundation. Particularly, it must be built on the foundation of an understanding of God's attributes and character.
Did Sarah understand the character of God? Did she understand God's goodness and mercy? His quickness/willingness/eagerness to bless us? Did she understand that the years and years of waiting were not a punishment but rather a part of a grander plan? Did she understand that since God has promised something that it will certainly come to pass? Did she understand His endless power, patience, justice, mercy and a million other parts and pieces that when taken collectively build a mosaic of what God is like? I think that certainly the answer to all these questions is yes! Without this knowledge of God's character, I don't think Sarah could have had the hope (substitute the word "assurance") that she did and would not have been able to receive the promised blessing. In summary, I think that the foundation upon which hope is built is an understanding of God's perfect character and nature.
I like the way S. Michael Wilcox puts it:
Our knowledge of the character and reputation of Christ allows us to “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy” (Hebrews 4:16)…We worship the Savior not only because he is a God, but because he is the kind of God he is. A principal role of the scriptures, therefore, is to give us a clear picture of the nature of the Father and his Son. Our hope rests in that nature. [S. Michael Wilcox, “Hope: An Anchor to the Soul”, Deseret Book Company, 1999, p. 10]
With all this in mind, Jacob 4:6 begins to make more sense to me.
Wherefore, we search the prophets, and we have many revelations and the spirit of prophecy; and having all these witnesses we obtain a hope, and our faith becometh unshaken…
