23: Pandora and Hope

Galen

Apr 24

From the DayBreaks archive:

Some days it is easier to have hope than others, isn't it?

Recently, the story of Malaysian Airlines flight 370 has captured vast amounts of time on the airwaves, in print and in the hearts and minds of people throughout the world. I have found it very compelling myself, reading nearly everything I can get my hands on about it…even when those things are contradictory or proven to be flat out incorrect. But you know what touched me perhaps more than anything? It was that the family members and loved ones of those who were on the missing flight keep holding out hope that perhaps, somewhere in the Indian Ocean, there is a life boat with their relative on it awaiting rescue. Alexander Pope famously put it this way: "Hope springs eternal in the human breast."

It seems that no matter how bad the circumstances, we always hope for the best - thinking that better things will come down the road. We want to believe, and cling to the hope that, no matter how bad things have been, they can always get better.

The reality is that, if we figure to survive in this world, we better have hope. The ancients knew that. Do you remember Pandora? Mythology has her as a lady endowed with every charm...the gift of all the gods. She was sent to earth with a little box which she had been forbidden to open, but curiosity finally got the better of her...she lifted the lid and out from that box escaped every conceivable kind of terror. Pandora made haste to close the box up again, but it was too late. There was only one thing left...HOPE. That was the ancients' way of saying how important hope is. Even when all else is lost, there is still hope.

It was hope that had sustained the Israelite faithful from generation to generation. This was what energized the crowd along Jesus' parade route on Palm Sunday…the hope that this was the long-awaited Messiah. And it is hope that has sustained believers in Christ ever since his resurrection and ascension. We DO believe that the best is to come….we hope for it, we long for it. We watch for His return and for the full and complete exercise of His unlimited power.

There is a difference between wishful thinking and hope. Wishful thinking is for those who have no Lord and Master who can speak the cosmos into existence. Hope is for those who know His words are true!

Romans 5:5 (NIV) And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

PRAYER: Thank you for the hope you have put into our hearts by your Spirit and the love that assures us of our ultimate deliverance and delight! In Jesus' name, Amen.

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