David Bahn – Reflections

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Today’s readings are Romans 15; 2 Samuel 22; Psalm 18; 117; Isaiah 11. I hope you will join me in reading these passages.

Romans 15:12-13

Isaiah says,

“The root of Jesse will come,
    even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;
in him will the Gentiles hope.”

¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Morgan Freeman’s character (Red) in the movie Shawshank Redemption says, “Hope is a dangerous thing.” He’s challenging fellow inmate Andy, who says, “You gotta have hope.” Red has no hope. He’s killed his heart to any possibility of getting out of prison and making a life for himself. Andy has plans to get out and spends his time wisely waiting for the right opportunity. Beyond holding onto hope, Andy is not a good role model for us. But he does hold onto hope.

A better role model for hope is Admiral James Stockdale, famed Vietnam POW, for whom the Stockdale Paradox is named. Stockdale endured incredible hardship while a prisoner of war in Vietnam. Many in his prison camp did not survive. But he urged the people there to face the brutal facts of their dreadful situation, yet hold onto hope for deliverance. That’s the paradox: Face the brutal facts while holding onto hope.

God is the God of fact and hope. There is no whitewashing even the heroes of faith in the Old or New Testaments. Yet God holds out hope to the people before Jesus’ day that a Savior would be born. He holds out hope to us that the resurrection of Jesus will be ours and we will live in glory, bliss, and joy in the life of the world to come.

I’m with Dufresne: you gotta have hope. Hope anchors our souls (Hebrews 6:19). It is the living gift of God’s Holy Spirit who has regenerated us into the hope of the resurrection. and Proverbs 13:12 tell us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.”

You don’t just “gotta have hope,” it is God’s gift that gives us also peace and joy, and by his grace by which we abound in hope of God’s good plans for us and our neighbor, fully in realized in Jesus our Savior.