Hope versus Fatalism
By Steve Hearts
With the Lord’s help, I am striving to recapture valuable attributes that I have allowed to slip away. Last night, during my time of prayer and fellowship with the Lord, He drew my attention to one area in particular which had been gradually stolen from me: the ability to hope.
Although I failed to admit this even to myself, I had been struggling for some time with a significant lack of joy, meaning, and happiness in daily life. My courage had been at a low ebb and it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep from falling into despair and depression. Determined to avoid such a fate, I asked the Lord to tell me how I had become this way in the first place. Only a few silent moments passed before I heard Him say, “The answer is simple: you’ve become disheartened and lost hope.”
I began backtracking through my life, intent on finding out how I’d come to lose something as vital as hope. I remembered a number of painful disappointments which resulted from situations that turned out totally contrary to the way I’d “hoped” they would. These had scarred me, causing me to take on an extremely resigned mindset. While resignation is a good thing to a certain extent, especially when it comes to fully accepting the will of God, my resignation had become fatalism. When visited by difficulty of any kind, I’d automatically accept it as being part of the “cross” I was meant to bear for the Lord, without praying or hoping that things would improve. I repeatedly told myself, “Don’t get your hopes up.” No wonder every day was a chore to get through.
Just then, several scriptures about hope came to mind.
“It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”1
“Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.”2
“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.”3
As the words of this passage ran through my mind, I thought of the author, King David. He was undeniably one of the most courageous, valiant men that ever lived. Yet he too faced moments of seeming hopelessness when his courage reached a low ebb and he was faced with the pressing question, “Where is thy God?”4 Yet he refused to allow his soul to be buried in the depths of despair or to be resigned to fatalism, as he reminded himself time and again, “Hope thou in God.” In the end, victory was always his.
The verses quoted above are just a few of the numerous scriptures on the topic of hope. As familiar as they’ve been to me all my life, I now felt as though I were hearing them for the first time as their meaning clearly resonated in my being. I quickly understood that by striving to take on a more hopeful attitude and laying aside the fatalism, my candle would once again burn brightly, and my happiness and joy would be restored.
“But, Lord,” I said. “How am I supposed to find the balance between building my hopes up too high and not hoping at all?”
He responded, “It’s not how high you build your hopes. It’s what you build them on that makes the difference.”
I had previously built my hopes on my own program, or the way I wanted things to turn out, rather than trusting Him for the outcome of His perfect will in each situation. I had figured that if He didn’t work things out my way, He wouldn’t work them out at all. This explained why I had been so disappointed and hard-hit. I would now learn to be hopeful and sure that He would indeed resolve the situations that come my way, though He probably wouldn’t always do so in the way or time I expect Him to.
I’m reminded of the anecdote about Mark Twain, who was coming out of church with one of his friends on a day when it rained torrentially. His friend asked, “Do you think it will stop?” Twain replied, “It always has.” Twain was conveying to his disheartened friend the hopeful message that even though the rain might not stop as quickly as they wished it would, he knew it eventually would, seeing as it always had. Likewise, for me, this was a reminder not to lose heart in the face of prolonged problems and difficulties, trusting instead that they would eventually pass.
I am renewed and determined to put into practice this new mindset of living in hope instead of fatalism. I continue to remind myself again and again of the scriptures the Lord brought to mind. Though it’s initially challenging to jettison the former mindset and embrace the new one, the results so far have been worth the effort. I feel my happiness and joy returning and the dark clouds lifting. No longer do I feel as though I’m doomed to a hopeless life of toil and suffering. Rather, I know that, in spite of the difficulties I experience along the way, I can take heart, rejoice, and hope in the Lord.
Finally, my greatest “hope” as I write this article is that it will encourage those who may have likewise experienced loss of hope. God does want us to trust in His sovereignty and to accept His will, but He does not call us to a life of passive fatalism. Rather we are called to eternal hope, joy, and anticipation in Him. We may not always know how His designs will unfold in our lives, but we can be hopeful and trust that He is indeed at work, and that “He [does] all things well.”5
As the old saying goes, “While there is life, there is hope.”
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