Disappointed Hope

One of the emotions that I experienced more than any other going through my own night season, besides the feeling of abandonment, was the feeling of disappointed hope.

When everything around me crashed and totally contradicted all that “I” thought the Lord had promised, instead of my faith becoming “sight” and giving me hope, I became disappointed, resentful and then even bitter towards God. It’s a horrible place to be, because in this state, we’re unable to move forward, and yet, we can’t turn back either. Hope in God is critical. As Scripture says, “Where there is no vision [or hope for the future] the people perish…” and “hope deferred makes the heart sick.” (Proverbs 29:18; 13:12)

An example of this can be seen in the two disciples on the Emmaus Road who thought Jesus was going to redeem Israel and bring in the new kingdom. Instead, Jesus had been crucified and they were crushed and disappointed. As they walked together, they said to Jesus (not recognizing Him), “We hoped that it would have been He who…” (would built the kingdom, etc.). (Luke 24:17-21)

Disappointed hope!

Other Scriptural examples might be: The Jews in Lamentations 4:17, who looked for help “that never came.” And David, in Psalm 42:3, where his friends and acquaintances made fun of him and taunted him, by saying, “Where is [your] God?” He made the mistake of listening to them and ended up in despair. “My tears have been my meat day and night….” Finally, in verse 5, he remembers that God is where his hope and faith ought to be. And, he says to himself, “Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.”

Why is hope so important? Romans 8:24 gives us the answer. It says, “We are saved [delivered, protected, healed, preserved, made whole] by hope.” And, Hebrews 6:19 tells us that “hope is the anchor of [our] soul.”

What exactly is hope? It’s the anticipation of something or someone. It’s a desire that is accompanied by confident expectation. It means looking forward to something, some occurrence, some condition, some prospect, etc. It’s an anticipation of future events that combines certainty and tension. This is shown in Romans 4:18 when Paul refers to Abraham as one “Who against hope believed in hope.”

Our hope, as Christians, can only be in God and His Word. We must constantly have hope in God, even when it contradicts all that is happening in the present moment. Since Scripture tells us that it’s impossible for God to lie, either God is who He said He is (and will perform what He has promised), or He’s not. There is no in between. We must choose to believe one way or the other. It’s impossible to live in between. Disappointment means doing exactly that—living in the middle (halting between two opinions)! Hope in God is simply the freedom from wanting anything or anyone but God. This is why Paul tells us that we are “saved” by hope.

To the one who loves God, hope is promised and is demonstrated by a new strength. “They that wait upon [hope in] the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

The word “wait” here means “to literally bind together by twisting.” Hope is the anticipation of all God’s promises being fulfilled and, yet, while we are waiting for them to be fulfilled, binding ourselves together with Him so that we become “one.”

Hope—confidence that God will do as He says—must be the anchor of our soul. Abraham demonstrates this when he “staggered not at the promise of God though unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” (Romans 4:20-21)

Hope in God is the opposite of disappointment. With God, there is always hope in the end!

Paul and James, the brother of Jesus, evidently felt this way. “Brethren, count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations [various trials].” (James 1:2) Paul’s joy and confidence throughout Corinthians, Philippians and Colossians came from the Holy Spirit. And, because God the Holy Spirit was always present, Paul could be joyful and of good cheer all the time. This meant that to Paul, disappointment, despair and discouragement were unnecessary. He felt that to submit to these things would be to dishonor his Lord, who delights in maintaining an unbroken fellowship with him.

We are to look at things in the same way. We are not to look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, the “eternal things.” If our gaze falls from heaven to things around us, however, then there is much to be discouraged about and defeated by. But, as Paul and James discovered, if we are engrossed with eternal things, then we can walk on firm and stable ground, always finding confidence and joy in God’s abiding presence. When we take our eyes off the Lord and look at the waves beneath us, we will surely be engulfed and consumed.

Our human existence is not determined by the acceptance of the present or by the recollections of the past, but solely by the expectation of the future. People without a purpose or a goal or a vision do “perish” as Proverbs 29:18 tells us. This is why our heart often becomes sad when our hope is deferred. Hope not only extends in this life, it also implies a future.

Hope comes as a result of patience. As Romans 5:3 says: tribulation brings forth patience, and patience brings forth experience, and experience hope. When our hope is fixed on God, it will secure our future expectations.