Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5)
During college, whenever my little sister was told that I was coming home, she would wait for me the entire day. As soon as I jiggled my house key into the lock, I would hear her small footsteps approaching the door. When she would finally see me, her eyes would widen while she exclaimed my name out loud and ran towards me for a wholesome hug. It did not matter how frequent I came home, her greetings were always filled with the same sincere excitement.
Being able to look forward to someone’s return or to have hope in something yet to come is healthy to our life. Hope keeps us grounded and gives us a purpose for waking up each morning but two difficulties accompany hope:
- The risk of disappointment
- Waiting
If we are to put our hope in men, we will most certainly be disappointed and end up waiting for a long time. In contrast, God is faithful and never disappoints those who hope in Him but He does sometimes require us to do some waiting.
God had chosen Joseph to preserve the Israelites during a severe famine. As young as seventeen, God revealed to him in two dreams that he would succeed to a position of power and authority but shortly after, Joseph found himself in anguish pleading to his brothers not to sell him to the Ishmaelites (Gen 37:28, 42:21). After Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar, he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife of sexual assault and imprisoned. Though Joseph was grieved from his afflictions, he continued to fear God and patiently endure day to day with God’s abidance.
I know, O Lord, that Your judgments are right, and that in faithfulness You have afflicted me. Let, I pray, Your merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to Your word to Your servant. (Psalm 119:75-76)
More so, Joseph never lost hope even though it meant harboring more grief. Imagine how hopeful Joseph was to be freed when he encountered two of Pharaoh’s officers in prison. After telling them the interpretation of their dreams, Joseph asked the chief butler to remember him and put in a good word for him once the chief butler was restored to Pharaoh. Yet it was not until two years later that the chief butler remembered Joseph’s request (Gen 41:1, 9-13). How often do you suppose Joseph thought to himself, “Today, they might finally release me,” only to learn that “today” did not happen until two years later?
We know the blessed ending to Joseph’s story, how he became the second most powerful man in Egypt, and how God used him to save the Israelites but for many of us, we are not yet at the end of our journey. We are still waiting and waiting is sometimes painful. We wait for our families to change and for our church to grow, but while we wait we must not lose hope but continuously extend our hearts in holy work according to the will of God. Even in the face of temptations and false accusations let us diligently fear God and glorify His name in all we do. As Joseph remained faithful and obedient to God as a youth full of hope, so we also should imitate as we wait until Christ comes again. Though men may disappoint, God will never disappoint us.