WEAKNESS AND HOPE (PART TWO)
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of
the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can
fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths
grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD
will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow
weary, they will walk and not be faint.
(Isaiah 40: 28-31)
A friend of mine who is always cheerful and optimistic said to me once, “My wife told
me that when God created me he poured in too much serotonin, and as a result I’m
irrepressibly optimistic.” I had to smile, and suspected that his wife was probably right.
Optimism seems to have its roots in two inter-related phenomena: the particular blend of
chemicals that are active within our bodies and our perceptions of the circumstances
around us. Optimism is a feeling created when these two realities combine in just the
right ways.
Hope is often equated with optimism, but it is very different. Hope is not a feeling; it is a
virtue that grows like a fruit when it is rooted in the right place. Hope requires us to
hope in something, and the strength of our hope is directly related to its object – that
which we have hoped in.
The Austrian psychologist Viktor Frankl tells the story of a fellow prisoner in a Nazi
concentration camp who had convinced himself that the camp would be liberated on a
particular date in April by the advancing Allied forces. He placed all of his hope in that
one date. The hoped-for day came and went, liberation did not come, and the prisoner
died the following day. Later that month – on April 27, 1945 -- the camp was liberated
by American soldiers. The quality of hope can be tested by its object; a hope-worthy
object renews one’s strength. This man lived (and died) out of misplaced hope.
Pessimism is the opposite of optimism; one opposite of hope is ‘jaded realism.’ Jaded
realism is rooted in one’s own strength, one’s own assessments of situations based on
past experiences. Jaded realism provides a thick skin of protection against life’s
disappointments. “Because I’ve been burned so many times in the past, I know better
than to hope. I’ll keep my head down, prepare for the worst, and maybe I’ll get through
another round. I’m a survivor who won’t get fooled again.” Jaded realism declares that
my knowledge of the past gives me the authority to predict the future.
We all go through certain situations in that jaded frame of mind and heart. But in Christ
we are called to something higher and deeper and weaker, something that makes us more
vulnerable. We are called to be weak enough to confess that our knowledge of the past
does not give us the authority to predict a “same old” future. Yes, we have all lived
through difficulty, and we are called to acknowledge our deep disappointments and the
weariness that fills us because of them. But what do we do with this acknowledgement?
We are called to throw ourselves into the arms of the faithful God “whose understanding
no one can fathom” and “who will not grow tired or weary.” As we in our weakness
abandon ourselves in the arms of that faithful One, hoping in Him, our strength will be
renewed like the eagle’s and we will continue running and walking, following as He
leads to the promised completion of all creation. That’s the kind of hope that we are
called to in 2009.