First, I must digress into a
brief background of the person who helped me shape my understanding of Hope, Noah
Webster:
“Webster in
early life was something of a freethinker, but in 1808 he became a convert to
Calvinistic orthodoxy, and thereafter became a devout Congregationalist who
preached the need to Christianize the nation.
Webster grew increasingly authoritarian and elitist, fighting against
the prevailing grain of Jacksonian Democracy. Webster viewed language as a tool
to control unruly thoughts. His American Dictionary emphasized the virtues of
social control over human passions and individualism, submission to authority,
and fear of God; they were necessary for the maintenance of the American social
order. As he grew older, Webster's attitudes changed from those of an
optimistic revolutionary in the 1780s to those of a pessimistic critic of man
and society by the 1820s.
His 1828
American Dictionary contained the greatest number of Biblical definitions given
in any reference volume. Webster considered education "useless without the
Bible." Webster released his own edition of the Bible in 1833, called the
Common Version. He used the King James Version (KJV) as a base and consulted
the Hebrew and Greek along with various other versions and commentaries.
Webster molded the KJV to correct grammar, replaced words that were no longer
used, and did away with words and phrases that could be seen as offensive.”
(quote from Wikipedia concerning Noah Webster)
Noah
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary of the English language defines Hope this way:
Confidence in a future event; the
highest degree of well founded expectation of good; as a hope founded on God's
gracious promises; a scriptural sense.
A well founded scriptural hope, is, in
our religion, the source of ineffable happiness.
That which gives hope; he or that which
furnishes ground of expectation, or promises desired good. The hope of Israel
is the Messiah. The Lord will be the
hope of his people. Joel 3.
As defined here Hope is ‘the highest degree of well founded expectation of Good’.
Mark
10:18 (GWT)
18
Jesus said…, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Now with
Jesus’s input here, "no one is good except God alone", I might come up with
an adequate definition of Hope for me being that my expectation is in God alone.
But, let’s
explore a little further.
Hebrews
3:5-6 (NCV)
5 Moses was faithful in
God's family as a servant, and he told what God would say in the future. 6
But Christ is faithful as a Son over God's house. And we are God's house if we
confidently maintain our hope.
There are
many things which crop up in my life to challenge me and to test my Hope. What do I definitely know? Will I ever get through this difficult trial? Will I be able to get another Job? Will my health problems ever get better? With the circumstances I face, I do not have
the answers. But, I serve a God who does
know the answers and does care even about these seemingly insignificant things. That is of course when I consider the bigness
of God. He even cares about my headache,
how amazing is that! There is nothing
too hard or too small for Him, therefore my Hope is in Him to bring about His
perfect will in my life. I Hope that He
uses me to accomplish that perfect will in my body, my finances, my home and in
my workplace. That way He can get the
glory, and I can rest in the knowledge that I have Hope in Him. Why do I have Hope in Him? Because of Jesus Christ’s faithfulness in
declaring the righteousness of God by His suffering for me, and also by the
fact of the resurrection. These are
objective truths spoken of in the bible and confirmed by many witnesses, these
truths have now become subjective truths in me through the indwelling and
interaction of the Holy Spirit shaping and renewing my mind by the truth of the word.
Referring
back to Noah Websters 1828 Dictionary, he defines the word ‘subjective’ this
way:
SUBJECTIVE, a. Relating to the subject, as
opposed to the object.
Certainty--is distinguished into objective
and subjective; objective, is when the proposition is certainly
true of itself; and subjective, is when we
are certain of the truth of it.
God has
declared the truth in His word (objectively), I respond to the evidences of that
truth, believe it and make it mine (subjectively). I
believe that is what Hope is, placing my expectation in the certainty of the
truth I know.
Words and
the definition of these words have a powerful effect on how I correctly
understand the effect of the gospel on my life.
Our current society is driven to undermine the exact meaning of words to
render them powerless and relativistic.
Our enemy knows that if he can change the meaning of words, then he can
destroy our culture from within by making our words of no integral value. This is the main reason I use the Webster
1828 dictionary to define the original intent of word meanings.
The word ‘understand’
has a profound meaning as related to Hope.
Webster’s 1828 dictionary states that to ‘understand’ means; “To have just
and adequate ideas of; to apprehended the meaning or intention of; to have
knowledge of; to comprehend; to know; to understand a proposition or a
declaration; to understand the sacred oracles; to understand a nod or a wink.”
It also has
a legal meaning, when one is in court we ‘stand under’ the bar. And by an oath we speak the truth. This is so the Judge and Jury can fully
comprehend our testimony and it’s truth.
They have full ‘understanding’ of our words because of our action of
‘standing under’ the bar and by our oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and
nothing but the truth.
I have Hope,
and my Hope is in the truth of the word stated in the bible. I possess it subjectively to the full
assurance that these things are true by God’s integrity to make me into the image of His Son. Oh that I may know Christ!
My Hope is
stated much like the first line of the song… “ My Hope is built on nothing
less, than Jesus blood and righteousness…”
Lord, thank
you for the great Hope I have in you. You
have shown yourself to be faithful and completely trustworthy to your word, and
it is because of that faithfulness I trust you and put my Hope in you. You are worthy of honor, praise and my
deepest worship. You are my God, and my
Savior!
Stephen
Barnett
Hope is
patiently waiting expectantly for the intangible to become reality. Avery D. Mille
↓Click Here to listen to the song
Faithful One
(Brian Doerksen)
Faithful One so unchanging
Ageless One You’re my rock of peace
Lord of all I depend on You
I call out to You, again and again
I call out to You, again and again
You are my rock in times of trouble
You lift me up when I fall down
All through the storm
Your love is the anchor
My hope is in You alone
Copyright © 1989 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing. All rights
reserved. International copyright secured.
The music above is copyrighted by the respective artists, and is demonstrated here for educational purposes only.
The music above is copyrighted by the respective artists, and is demonstrated here for educational purposes only.
Thank you Brother
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