“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
Jeremiah 29:11 (NKJV)
Viktor Frankl was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. He was the founder of what has become known as logotherapy and is most notable for his best-selling book, “Man’s Search for Meaning”. In the early years of ministry, I actually read or reviewed that book on a nearly annual basis for his observations were both fascinating and compelling. In the book he writes of his experiences in a Nazi Concentration Camp. Through that experience he comes to the conclusion that there was one defining difference between those who survived and those who succumbed to that horrific evil and injustice. Those who survived had a deep sense of purpose, meaning, and a future. Those who did not survive had lost hope, a sense of meaning, and had become cynical. Frankl suggested that the primary motivational force of an individual, especially in a crisis, is the search for meaning. He concluded that life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones.
I share that synopsis because as I endure the nation-wide lockdown with you, I am reminded that these weeks (hopefully no longer) are not meaningless or devoid of hope. In the end, it matters not how many points the Dow has dropped, the amount of money I lost in my 401K, the upheaval of an economy, or the viability of my job, I still have HOPE.
Our tendency is to see “hope” as a synonym of “wish”. We “wish” we had a better life, or we “wish” things were different. A “wish” is something we may desire, but not necessarily count on happening. Have you ever heard someone say, for example, when asked if they were going to heaven, “I hope so?” What that means is, they really are not sure. It would be a nice outcome, but there is no certainty.
Biblical hope is not to be confused with secular wishing. The word actually means, “a confident expectation of what you are envisioning”. Hope is the inner anchor which gives this moment and the future meaning. Be advised, Frankl was able to identify and observe the inner capacity of human beings to generate such things, but he was never able to understand it within a Christian context. Our hope is solid because we are confident in the One who declares it. The Lord knows the end from the beginning, so He is able to declare those things we read in the passage above. Do I really believe that? There is a vast difference between believing what God COULD do and what He WILL do. God CAN do anything, but am I confident (do I know that I know that I know) that He WILL bring important meaning and purpose out of this moment?
There is an old saying (a deception really) that if I never expect anything good, I can never be disappointed. I suppose that is true, but it also won’t sustain you during a crisis. The greatest challenge I face at times is the temptation to lose my hope. It is painful when things don’t shake-out like you had planned. However, God’s ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts and this is the moment I demonstrate the depth of my trust.
Gratefully, I am not in the middle of a Nazi Concentration Camp. I am enduring an exponentially smaller challenge than that horrific event. That should give me some needed perspective. However, this is my moment to renew my hope. This is my moment to renew my mind to all the wonderful promises that God declares which gives me a confidence that my future is meaningful and His plan will march forward.
I am renewing my mind today to recapture any hope that has been lost…
To renew my mind to the hope that I continually carry…
And seize the hope that I may have been neglecting…
I will not “wish” my time away…
I only act on those things of which I am confidently expecting…
I am expecting (hoping) for some amazing things in 2020…
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