Man is often wont to think that the past is better than the future. This, however, is not the path of hope. God has set eternity in the hearts of all men (Ecclesiastes 3: 11). He sets hope in every heart of man to look forward to something better. We read in the bible in chapter 7 of Ecclesiastes and in verse 8: “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof…” Unfortunately, man’s fallen nature thwarted this path of hope. Hope keeps alive. It is the enduring force of life. A man without hope is dead.
In the book of Haggai chapter 2 and in verse 3, the LORD God asked the children of Israel the question: “Who is left among you who saw this house (Solomon’s temple) in her first glory? How do you see it now? Does it not appear to you like nothing in comparison?” What we usually see in the present pales out in comparison to the past. This holds true for individuals and also for nations. The children of Israel who were in bondage in Egypt four hundred and thirty odd years suddenly began to yearn for a return to the land of bondage after they were led into freedom with God’s mighty hand under Moses.
As believers, we must understand the nature of God. Times of preparations or change always look gloomy. The scripture says that no one can fathom the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. But we know according to scripture in the book of Proverbs chapter 4 verse 18: ” The path of the righteous is like the shinning light (the gleam of dawn), that shines brighter unto the perfect day (until the full light of day). This is the path of hope. But before the break of the light of dawn, there is always darkness. A new day starts in the evening (Genesis 1: 5) and gets darker before the break of the light of dawn. So the day, as set forth by God, sets the course of hope for man. Many, however, fail to learn the wisdom that each day teaches. They become despondent and hopeless with the dark night (present gloom) and do many untoward things that cut them off from the glory of the light that dawns from the night.
There is a purpose for everything under the sun, including the darkness of the night. The dark night is a time for deep to call to the deep, the creature to call to his Creator. It is a time to look unto the hills from where comes our help. The dark moments of our lives are times to go to the Rock that is higher than us. The works of creation were wrought in the curious darkness of the night. The morning light only shows up what has been wrought in the night. The best is never seen in the dark , nor in the past, the best is seen in the day, in the present, and in the future. The world was not made to stand still, so also our experiences.
Hope is a driving force. A man who has hope invests in the night season because the day will show up eventually what he has been investing in. For a nation going through turbulent times, if men of that nation embrace hope and not despair, they will invest themselves in things more noble, wisen up, and amend their evil ways for the light of the dawn will only manifest what they have been investing in. Our Lord Jesus is a great example for us. His nights, the dark hours, were invested in prayer. The bible accounted in Hebrews chapter 5 verse 7 that: “He cried unto Him (God the Father), that was able to save Him and He was heard because He feared (He was reverent, He was wise hearted, He was not presumptuous).” Our Lord Jesus hoped in God, and turned unto One that was greater than Him while He was here on earth. Joseph was another living example. His dream that his brothers bowed down to him was his hope. Even when he was sold into slavery and when he was wrongly imprisoned, which were dark days in his life, he never behaved unseemly. He lived for his dream and feared God. A man without hope has no fear of God. Men who go into perversion, men who got their conscience seared and live only for the moment are men who have no hope. Though they might live in momentary riches, anything without the fear of the LORD as a foundation is but a vapour . Hope births fear of God and cause men to purify themselves (1 John 3:3). A man with hope does no evil under the cover of darkness, for no sooner had he finished his work than the light of the dawn comes to make manifest the things he had done.
Believers in Christ have every cause to be hopeful. Why?, because God has begotten us to a lively hope through the resurrection of Christ (1Peter 1: 3) and He has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son (Colossians1: 13). Believers in Christ have the promises of God: “behold I will do a new thing, it shall spring forth, shall you not know it.” (Isaiah 43: 19). So God expects us to be hopeful, and because we are hopeful, we turn to Him and not to evil or any corrupt practices. If the LORD promises that He will do a new thing and we know that God cannot lie, it means that the best can never be in the past but in the present and in the future. What makes the contemporary temple being built by the people in Haggai chapter 2 better was not in the physical grandeur like the first, but it was in the glory of God that fills it. “And I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.” (Haggai 2: 7). It is the glory of the LORD that makes the difference, and Christ in us is the hope of glory (Colossians1: 19). He who is on Christ should abound in hope.
What is the demand of hope for those who embrace hope that is in Christ? Haggai chapter 2 verse 4 sums it up. For both the leadership and the people, the demand of hope is: “Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD, and work.” Believers in Christ has no business been weak and indolent and lazy. We must be diligent. We must be faithful in our callings and in whatever thing that has been committed into our hands. A man who embraces hope does not despise days of small beginning because he has his eyes set on God who is able to lift up his head. A man with hope in him does not do eye service, but he is sincere, knowing that God will recompense his stewardship. Are we passing through a dark season, perplexing times, we should understand that God is doing a curious work even in this. Such times are for us to be strong and work. Part of the work is turning to God in prayer like our Lord Jesus did. Part of it is being diligent in our calling. Part of the work is to embrace the needed change and growth in our lives. Part of the work we must do is to be strong in faith, that is, faith in God. Part of that work is love; to love God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength and to love others as ourselves. Part of that work is to abound in thanksgiving and praises unto God. A person who has hope is a person who is reverent and gives thanks to God as he endures and looks to God for a turnaround.
The scripture says there abides these three: hope, faith, and love, but the greatest of these three is love. These three are intricately woven together. Hope causes a man to look up to God from where comes His help. Faith brings about trust and obedience to God, and love causes a man to be reverent, to walk with God, and to be morally upright. The source of all these three is God. God is the God of hope (Romans 15:13). The Resurrection of Christ beget us to a living hope. The day also teaches us wisdom concerning hope that after the dark of the night always comes the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter unto the fulness of the day. Hope in God never ends in shame, so our hope in God should never fade. It is the enduring force of life, for there is hope only for the living (Ecclesiastes 9:4).
