Hope in Uncertain Times
Geoffrey Ellis

Multiple trillions have been lost in the recent global economic meltdown. Hundreds of thousands of job losses per month have been recorded in Canada. Retirees have lost critically needed funds. The trickle down effect presages much pain in the months ahead. And now the worldwide threat of pandemic flu is upon us.
Is hope an important coping strategy?
Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, author of the bestselling, Man’s Search for Meaning, thought so. In the midst of his and others' suffering in the Nazi killing camps, he came “to his hallmark conclusion that even in the most absurd, painful and dehumanized situation, life has potential meaning and that therefore even suffering is meaningful…‘If a prisoner felt that he could no longer endure the realities of camp life, he found a way out in his mental life – an invaluable opportunity to dwell in the spiritual domain, the one that the SS were unable to destroy. Spiritual life strengthened the prisoner, helped him adapt, and thereby improved his chances of survival.’” (Wikipedia).
The Christian for whom faith is real and the spiritual realm familiar territory will be in a position to develop a positive calmness in the face of the current adversity.
But is hope merely a subjective projection of the future? The ancient Stoics believed this to be true and discounted it. Is hope primarily a psychological exercise that gives us strength to deal with the difficulties of today, an internal coping mechanism, a psychological aspirin? Is it mainly hopefulness that mutes the present pain?
Hope is not “merely” a subjective projection. Humans have this marvelous capacity to summon up a current strength in the face of adversities, an emotion of tranquility in the midst of the storm. Yet this emotional element does not stand on its own; it is fed by the intellect that can reflect on the vast sweep of human experience. The bearish market sooner or later will be replaced by the bullish; it always has. Age is heartened by the succeeding generations’ begetting of new life. And there will be “bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow, just you wait and see. There will be love and laughter, and peace ever after, tomorrow, when the world is free.” Yes, wars consume themselves and collapse. Optimism for the future is not misplaced.
It is in this broader reality that Christian hope has its unique value. Christian hope is distinguished from garden varieties of hope in that it is grounded in present realities that issue from the future. Christians both look forward to and presently experience God’s salvation. Christians both look forward to and presently experience life in the kingdom of heaven. Christians both look forward to eternal fellowship with God and presently experience that fellowship in life with the Spirit. Tomorrow is already here, and it is good. And its positives far outweigh any negatives that this world throws at us. In other words Christian hope, both in its psychological experience and its intellectual certitude, establishes a perspective from which the “uncertain times” can be assessed and dealt with.
Hope, for the Christian, is tomorrow’s reality for today. Hope, for Christians, is the euphemism for everything that God has already delivered in Christ—Christians who are blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms” (Eph. 1:3). For the Christian, “faith, hope and love” is not just a list of separate values. Rather, these are an interconnected system that expresses one supreme value. Hope is anchored in faith that includes both the content of “the faith”—the totality of God’s will and work on behalf of man revealed to us in scripture, and the confidence of faith—the assurance that these things are so and deserving of our life’s commitment. Hope is assured of these future realities that already exist in the mind of God and are proleptically experienced by the Christian in the present. And hope is centered in love. This is the love that begins with God and is defined by God’s willingness to sacrifice all for our rescue and wellbeing. Faith gives the content of our hope; love gives the motivation for our hope.
Christian hope can uplift the entire world, for “In his [Christ’s] name the nations will put their hope” (Matt. 12:21).
The surety of hope is rooted in the reality of Christ: we have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God” Rom 5:1b-2).
This is not a misplaced hope: “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” (Rom. 5:5).
Therefore, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer” (Rom. 12:12). In these “uncertain times” and always, “”May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).