Hope Defined

HOPE:  

It's a thing. It's an action. We can possess it and be possessed by it. We can be without it and in search of it. It's contagious and it's good. We can hope in true things and in false things. We can have hope in things and for things. We can have unfulfilled hope and hope deferred.

The moral of the story? As people, we hope. All I know it that this thing called HOPE is important. It shows up in scripture 180 times in the NIV translation. I wanted to know more about "hope," so I did a word study on it from the Bible. I hope it makes sense :)

Possession: 

• Hope is something we can possess or not possess, be with or be without (1). You can do something wrong, screw up in the past, and still have hope (2). There are times when you no longer have hope, times when you actively hope, and times when you don't have hope yet, but will have in the future (3). If you forget God, your hope is destined to perish (4). Not only can you possess hope, but hope can possess you (5). You can possess hope as an individual as well as mutually possess the same hope as someone other than yourself (6). Having hope is closely tied to praise and prayer (7,8). 

Hope In: 

• We can hope in good things and in bad things. When I think of hoping in something, I like to even think of myself physically walking into that something - going inside of it to do the hoping I will do.

• Things that are good for us to hope in: God, the Word (9), His unfailing love (10), His teachings (11), the resurrection of the dead and eternal life (12, 13), His promises including Jesus (14, 15), the glory of God (16), and the salvation of others (17).

• Things that are bad for us to hope in: That which is stolen (18), the failure of others (19), created things including other humans and money (20-22), and the law given through Moses (23).

Stages: 

• Hope has a process to it, just like anything. It helps me to think of hope in stages, such as:  

• Cause for hope --> actively hoping --> hope's fulfillment. 

• It's important that hope be fulfilled, or else our hearts grow sick (24). God is the one who fulfills hope and keeps us flourishing (25).

Source: 

• Well, that's all easy enough, but from where does that cause for hope originally come? There's many answers to that question. The first source of hope is always God (26-28). He calls us to it and sets it in front of us (29, 30). Any cause for it comes from Him first, for example: doing what is right (31), endurance and encouragement (32), joy and peace (33), love (34), and wisdom (35). And because God is the source of hope and gives it, He can also take it away and does when it does not glorify Him (36, 37).

Action: 

• Hope is a verb. We do it. We hope. We can choose to hope by purposefully thinking of things that will evoke it in us (38).

Thing: 

• Hope is a noun. It's not just something we do, but can actually be something. This is my favorite part about hope, because to think of it as a thing physically outside of myself helps me to realize it's something I need and don't always have. If you were to describe hope, how would you do it? If you were to place your hope somewhere, which you possess, where would you put it?

• We can put hope places (39-41) and put it on things (42). We can raise and lower hope (43, 44) and literally give it up (45). We can firmly hold onto hope (46, 47) and set it on top of grace (48).

• Hope can be an anchor (49), a door (50), and an outfit (51). Hope can be our lens, something we actually look out of (52-54), and by doing so, our hope becomes closely connected to our patience.

Hope is quite a contagious thing (55) !

Along With Hope Comes:

• Suffering (56-58), rest (59, 60), boldness (61), never disappointment (62), purity (63), confidence (64), security (65), never shame (66), guidance and learning from truth (67), inheritance (68), protection (69), discipline (70), strength (71), belief (72), patience (73) and endurance (74).

Find it in the Word 1. Ruth 1.12 2. Ezra 10.2 3. Proverbs 23.18 4. Job 8.13 5. Jeremiah 23.16 6. 2 Corinthians 10.15 7. Psalm 71.14 8. 1 Timothy 5.5 9. Psalm 119.74 10. Psalm 33.18 11. Isaiah 42.4 12. Acts 23.6 13. Titus 1.2 14. Acts 26.7 15. Romans 15.12 16. Colossians 1.27 17. 2 Timothy 2.25 18. Psalm 62.10 19. Luke 20.20 20. Psalm 33.17 21. Proverbs 11.7 22. Acts 16.19 23. John 5.45 24. Proverbs 13.12 25. Job 6.8 26. Jeremiah 29.11 27. Psalm 119.49 28. Psalm 62.5 29. Ephesians 1.18 30. Hebrews 6.18 31. Job 4.6 32. Romans 15.4 33. Romans 15.13 34. 1 Corinthians 13.7 35. Proverbs 24.14 36. Job 19.10 37. Jeremiah 13.16 38. Lamentations 3.21 39. Matthew 12.21 40. Psalm 33.22 41. Psalm 42.5 42. 2 Corinthians 1.10 43. Ephesians 1.12 44. 2 Kings 4.28 45. Acts 27.20 46. Hebrews 3.6 47. Hebrews 10.23 48. 1 Peter 1.13 49. Hebrews 6.19 50. Hosea 2.15 51. 1 Peter 3.5 52. Micah 7.7 53. Job 6.19 54. Psalm 39.7 55. Romans 15.13 56. Job 13.15 57. Acts 26.6 58. Acts 28.20 59. Acts 2.26 60. Psalm 62.5 61. 2 Corinthians 3.12 62. Isaiah 49.23 63. 1 John 3.3 64. Job 4.6 65. Job 11.18 66. Psalm 25.3 67. Psalm 25.5 68. Psalm 37.9 69. Psalm 119.114 70. Proverbs 19.18 71. Isaiah 40.31 72. Romans 4.18 73. Romans 8.25 74. 1 Thessalonians 1.3