Day 7 • The Week of Hope

Scripture Readings:
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Ezekiel 36:24-28
Mark 11:27-33

In my life, I have learned that hope isn’t a passive reality. If I am hoping for something, I am taking intentional steps towards making my hopes a reality. When it feels like there’s really nothing I can do to pursue my hopes, I pray, journal, and talk with those I respect about them so I can gain understanding as I try to patiently wait to pursue them once again.

Yet, there is another important layer of hope that I feel is often missed. That is the reality that God is being intentional and proactive as well. I think this is missed because “waiting on God” can sound passive in both directions. Passive in the sense that you are not really doing anything as you wait, and God has yet to make any signs of moving in that area either, so all there really is left to do is to wait.

I also think this aspect is missed because, in our culture that sees rugged individualism as a virtue, we often hear the gospel message fused with an expectation that if we want to see fulfillment in our hopes, it is largely up to us. “God helps those who help themselves,” right? This sure paints a bleak picture for those who have no resources or ability to help themselves.

While there may be times in our life when we must put in great amounts of effort towards our future and other times when we must wait and cultivate patience as our future unfolds, we must not allow this to cause us to forget how proactive God is out of love for us at all times.

Take the words from Ezekiel 36:24-28 as an example. Notice who is taking all the initiative in that passage to heal, restore, and fulfill hope? God is. Look at verses 24-25, “For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols.” Imagine being a people so weary from exile in an empire that isn’t their home and hearing these words from God. What a message of rest and peace that would be.

Our passage from Mark 11:27-33 is really fitting for this theme as well. Jesus is asked where he gets his authority and responds to that question with a question, as he so often does. He asked his opponents if John’s baptizing work was from God or from human effort alone. His opponents are stuck between affirming John’s authority is from God, and subsequently Jesus’ authority as well, and a possible riot from those who believed John was a prophet just responded with “I don’t know.” Then Jesus said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

What is so profound about this exchange is the nature of the one being asked this question. He is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” He is the incarnation, fully human, and fully God. He is the living, breathing picture of God fully participating with humanity and humanity fully participating with God. Is his authority from God or from humanity? The answer is that authority comes when both humanity and God are working together in love!

In our ongoing relationship with God, there are times when we are firing on all cylinders and pursuing our hopes with full intentionality. There are other times when we are wearily waiting patiently for opportunities to pursue our hopes once again. Yet in all time, we must remember that God is not idle but also proactively moving on our behalf and on behalf of a weary world. Or as the Christmas Hymn “O Holy Night” describes God’s proactive work on our behalf through Christ, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.”

Reflection Steps:

As you reflect on this theme today, I invite you to write out a few of your greatest hopes for this life and the world around you. Maybe just two or three if they are major. Then, as you look at them, think about how you relate to them. Does one make you excited and fill you with energy to pursue it? Does another make you feel physically and mentally tired, not knowing how it will ever happen? Or does one simply make you feel neutral? Noticing how your heart responds to these hopes you’ve written is a good indication of how the Holy Spirit is leading you. Take an opportunity today to pray these familiar words of serenity over these hopes, trusting that God is proactively working even in the areas you can’t: “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”