When we are facing challenges, difficulties, and trials, what do we need most?
I have recently been pondering this question. Our family has been through many challenges, setbacks, losses, and trials—from the discouragement that comes with ongoing health struggles to the grief of a miscarriage. We know the shock and uncertainty of an unexpected job loss, and the fear that can flood your thoughts concerning the future.
There have been many times where we felt like giving up, and the weight of discouragement felt incredibly heavy. In fact, I have said things like, “Why, God? Why did this have to happen?” and “Now what?”
One day not too long ago, I was talking to God about these very things. I sat there in silence, waiting for Him to speak to my heart through His Word. While I didn’t hear an audible voice from heaven, that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit deep on the inside clearly said: “You need hope, and I am the God of Hope.”
He led me to Romans 15:13, which says:
“And the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
He then proceeded to flood my mind with words and lyrics for a song that I hope to record one day soon titled “The God of Hope.”
My heart was so comforted and assured. The answer had become clear: when we face trials, loss, difficulties, and setbacks, what we need most is to know Him as the God of hope. We need His Holy Spirit to fill our hearts and minds with hope again so that we have the courage to continue moving forward.
What is the Biblical Definition of Hope?
If hope is what we need to endure in times of trial, then what is hope exactly? Where does hope come from? What should we hope for? And how can we learn how to find hope in trials?
Webster’s dictionary defines hope as: “To want something to happen or to be true. To desire with expectation of fulfillment. To expect with confidence.”
Based on this definition, there are a lot of everyday things we can want or desire to happen. For instance, I hope that when I get home today my son has done his chores. Or I hope that one day I can visit Grand Teton National Park.
Those are certainly good things to desire. But these are both temporary, momentary things. I don’t think these were the kinds of hopes that God was telling me I needed to face heavy trials and overcome.
More often than not, this is exactly what God reveals to us through our trials: we have placed our hope and our desires in something else other than Him, His promises, and His Word.
To discover the kind of hope that God wants to give us, we must look at how He defines it. To do that, we need to look up the definition of hope in the original languages the Bible was written in—Hebrew and Greek.
One of the best ways to find the biblical definitions of words is to use an online interlinear Bible linked to Hebrew and Greek lexicons (dictionaries). Two of my favorite free websites for this are Bible Hub and Blue Letter Bible. Using these tools, I found that there are two primary Hebrew words in the Old Testament for hope: tiqvah and yachal.
1. Tiqvah: The Cord that Binds Us to God
We see the Hebrew word tiqvah used in the very popular verse, Jeremiah 29:11:
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope [tiqvah].”
When I looked up tiqvah in the lexicons, I was surprised to find that the very first definition given is a cord!
At first, you might wonder what a cord has to do with hope. This is where understanding the background of Hebrew is so helpful. I have studied Biblical Hebrew for over 15 years, and one of the reasons I love it is because it is a very concrete language. It uses things we can touch, taste, see, and feel to help us understand spiritual realities.
So, how do a cord and hope relate to one another? What does a cord do? A cord connects things, ties things together, binds things together, and holds things together.
Hope is like a cord because whatever we place our hope in, we connect ourselves to and hold onto tightly.
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If we place our hope in a job to make us happy, we tie our thoughts and identity to it. But what happens when we lose that job? Our cord gets broken.
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If our hope is in a spouse treating us perfectly, then when they fail us, our hope gets broken and we are consumed by disappointment.
The list of things we pull toward ourselves is endless: finances, health, children, or ministry. Yet all of these things are temporary and can fail us. This becomes painfully evident when we face hardships.
This is why God tells us time and time again in His Word that He alone must be our hope. We must connect ourselves to Him and hold tightly to His promises, because He is the only One who never fails, never breaks a promise, and always does what He says He will do.
2. Yachal: Patiently Waiting on God
The second biblical word for hope is yachal. This word is used in Psalm 42:5:
“Why are you depressed, O my soul, and why are you restless within me? Wait [yachal] for God: for I shall yet thank Him for the salvation of His face.”
When we look up yachal, we see it means to wait, to stay somewhere, to be patient, or to tarry.
Usually, when we hope for something, we want it to happen right away. But sometimes, we have to wait. This is where maintaining hope gets challenging, especially in a culture of instant gratification. With one click on Amazon, we can get almost anything we want. Waiting on God has become increasingly difficult, and the temptation to take matters into our own hands is strong. Yet, when we rush ahead of God, we often end up hurting ourselves and others.
Hope is as essential to our spirits as oxygen is to our lungs. It gives us the fuel to keep going. As Proverbs 13:12 states:
“Hope drawn out makes the heart sick, but a longing come true is a tree of life.”
The word for hope in this verse comes from that same root: yachal. When we have to wait a long time for something we expect, it can make our hearts sick, discouraged, or depressed. We can slowly start to die from within and want to give up.
But God uses these seasons to remind us to wait patiently, staying anchored to Him and His Word. Even when God doesn't act in the timing we think He should, He remains entirely faithful.
Our Living Hope: An Inheritance that Never Fades
Ultimately, everything in this world will perish. Our Lord Jesus Himself said in Matthew 24:35 that heaven and earth will pass away, and Paul reminds us in 1 Timothy 6:7 that we brought nothing into this world and can take nothing out of it. Therefore, we cannot tie our cords tightly to things that are passing away.
This is the beauty of the Gospel. Jesus came into our broken, dying world and took the punishment for our sin in His death so that through His resurrection, we could have an eternal hope that will never perish. When we make Jesus the Lord and Savior of our lives, we receive a living hope.
As 1 Peter 1:3-4 states:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who according to His great compassion, has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, having been kept in the heavens for you.”
This is where our hope must sit. We must hold loosely to our desires for this life and hold tightly onto Him, the Living One, and His kingdom that will last forever. When we connect ourselves to this truth, we can wait with patience through any trial. Just as surely as He fulfilled His Word to come the first time, He promises to come a second time to receive us to Himself.
How to Maintain Hope in Hardships
What do we need most when we face trials? We need hope.
Where do we go to find hope? His Word.
And how do we maintain it? By holding tightly to His promises like a secure cord and waiting patiently on Him alone.
As 2 Peter 3:13-14 encourages us:
“But according to His promise we wait with anticipation for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells... So then beloved ones, look forward then to this, do your utmost to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless.”
The God of hope fills us with joy and peace in believing as the Holy Spirit enables us to abound in hope. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He will be faithful to His Word, and He truly does have plans to give you an eternal future and an unfading hope.
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