“… Say to the people of Israel: ‘I am the Lord. I will free you from your oppression and will rescue you from your slavery in Egypt.’” Exodus 6:6

“So Moses told the people of Israel what the Lord had said, but they refused to listen anymore. They had become too discouraged by the brutality of their slavery.” Exodus 6: 9

Without hope we can’t see possibility. And when we can’t see possibility, we’re robbed of the change God wants to bring about in our lives. Whether deliverance from an external situation or the internal character shift needed to bring us into closer alignment of who Christ calls us to be.

The good news is that hope is tethered to the will. Hope says that our emotions don’t have to hold us hostage. That we’re not powerless, because hope is the smallest, willful contribution we can deposit in times of discouragement and despair.

And what are we to make of this tie between faith and hope. Is hope the precursor to faith? So that even if we can’t quite muster enough strength to stand firm and walk in faith, we can at least extend a wobbly hand in hope? Not in ourselves or the evidence we see, but hope in the goodness and sovereignty of God?

I found this perspective of the different aspects of faith and hope. It’s interesting, but I’m not done thinking …

“Faith originates in the understanding while hope rises in the will. Faith says what is to be done. It teaches, directs and describes. Hope exhorts the mind to be strong and courageous. Faith concentrates on the truth. Hope looks to the goodness of God.”