Words of Hope

A Word Study on the Biblical Word "Hope"

Study #25 - Blessings of Hope

In our last post we considered the conditional aspect of hope as it relates to God's mercy.  God's mercy is received upon the condition of our hope (yahal - confident trust) in Him.  This is to be understood in light of the New Testament which declares that God's saving mercy is given only to those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.  It is not surprising therefore to find God's mercy linked to the believer's hope in Him.  But it may be surprising to some to find that God's mercy is also connected to the believer's fear of God.  We considered this somewhat last time in relation to God's conditional blessings upon our nation as a God-fearing nation.  In two very similar statements in the Psalms we find the fear of God identified with the believer's hope in God:  "Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy" (Psalm 33:18); "The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy" (Psalm 147:11).  It is evident that in these two verses the Bible is placing the fear of the Lord side by side with hoping in His mercy.  In other words, placing our hope (confident trust) in God's mercy is at least a part of what it means to truly fear the Lord.  We might have the false idea that fearing God is counter productive to or contradictory to trusting God.  Unfortunately in our limited understanding fear and mercy seem to be mutually exclusive, but here in the Scriptures we find them to be mutually inclusive!  It is clear that modern "Christianity" does not have a healthy, much less Biblical, view of what it means to fear the Lord.  Does the average "Christian" ever concern himself with the dread of displeasing His Lord?  At the very least, the fear of God in the believer's heart should cause him to reverence Him, respectfully obey Him, and exclusively worship Him (See Deuteronomy 6:2,13-15 for example and compare our Lord's quotation in Matthew 4:10).   This should also help us understand more clearly what it means to truly place our hope in God and His mercy.  We also find in these two Psalms the blessings that accompany our fear of God as we place our hope in His mercy:  1) His watchful care - "the eye of the LORD is upon them ..." (Psalm 33:18); and 2) His loving approval - "The LORD taketh pleasure in them ..." (Psalm 147:11).  We should carefully read both of these Psalms in their entirety to find out what all of this includes.  We may simply note here that Psalm 33 speaks primarily of His protection and Psalm 147 of His provision.  But there is one more blessing connected to the believer's hope in God's mercy found in Psalm 130:7 - "Let Israel hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption".  Here the Psalmist is speaking of the blessing of the forgiveness of sins - the greatest gift of God's boundless mercy!  He begins by crying out to God out of the depths of his despair (vs.1).  His sin had left him in the bottom of a great pit of guilt and shame.  There all seemed to be hopeless.  There was no where to look but up, nothing to do but pray, and no where to turn but to the Lord! But then his contrition turned to confidence as he placed his hope in God - His willingness to forgive, His mercy, and His promised redemption:  "If thou, LORD, shouldest mark (keep a record of or retain) iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee ... for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities" (vs.4,7,8).  God offers to us freely the bountiful pardon of all our sins - a full and free redemption - solely on the basis of His grace and mercy - a gift that is ours for the asking, conditioned only upon the placing of our hope of salvation entirely and exclusively upon His Son, Christ Jesus the LORD.  "Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:6,7).