On Hope
In yesterday's Bible reading, the following scripture passage seemed very special to me:
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope..." (Zechariah 9:9-12a, NKJV)
"Prisoners of hope" -- oh, to be a prisoner of hope! I've spent much of my adult life unaware, until recently, of my great need to be captured by hope -- hope being inseparably linked to desire, and desire being likened to the atomic energy of the soul. A powerful force. A vital asset to cultivate. A priceless commodity to safeguard.
I was once encouraging a young person to "go for it" when an acquaintance cautioned me, due to the challenges this young person faced, not to "get his hopes up". Well, hope is precisely for "getting up"! It imparts a galvanizing positive energy in our lives. Too often, we simply let go of hope because we don't realize what hope can and will impart. (Actually, in the absence of hope, we resort to either fatalism or arrogance, but that's for another post...)
Hope is not actually something we simply receive for the asking. In my study of all the biblical references on hope I've discovered something surprising. Among the dozens and dozens of scripture passages, only one, according to my understanding, implies that hope is something that can be received. The remainder indicate that we must exercise this powerful dynamic ourselves. We must call upon our will to generate hope, and then hang on to it. In recent years my prayer has been that I might experience a greater capacity to exercise hope. And that, my friends, has changed everything.
"...[We] who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil..." (Hebrews 6:18b-19, NKJV)
Check the scriptures for yourself. And then go ahead... get you hopes up!
"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey. I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem; the battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope..." (Zechariah 9:9-12a, NKJV)
"Prisoners of hope" -- oh, to be a prisoner of hope! I've spent much of my adult life unaware, until recently, of my great need to be captured by hope -- hope being inseparably linked to desire, and desire being likened to the atomic energy of the soul. A powerful force. A vital asset to cultivate. A priceless commodity to safeguard.
I was once encouraging a young person to "go for it" when an acquaintance cautioned me, due to the challenges this young person faced, not to "get his hopes up". Well, hope is precisely for "getting up"! It imparts a galvanizing positive energy in our lives. Too often, we simply let go of hope because we don't realize what hope can and will impart. (Actually, in the absence of hope, we resort to either fatalism or arrogance, but that's for another post...)
Hope is not actually something we simply receive for the asking. In my study of all the biblical references on hope I've discovered something surprising. Among the dozens and dozens of scripture passages, only one, according to my understanding, implies that hope is something that can be received. The remainder indicate that we must exercise this powerful dynamic ourselves. We must call upon our will to generate hope, and then hang on to it. In recent years my prayer has been that I might experience a greater capacity to exercise hope. And that, my friends, has changed everything.
"...[We] who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil..." (Hebrews 6:18b-19, NKJV)
Check the scriptures for yourself. And then go ahead... get you hopes up!
posted by Linda at
2:12 AM
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