Hope Cuts Two Ways

Hope does not always bring comfort. As we talked about on Sunday, hope also brings discomfort - because it means honestly facing the darkness and longing for the light. And longing is never an easy thing. The apostle Peter, while talking about those who longed for the Messiah but never saw his coming, describes hope in a very sobering way:

Therefore, with minds that are alert and fully sober, set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming. - 1 Peter 1:13

One theologian painted a graphic picture about these twin aspects of hope:

Hope cuts two ways: on the one hand it provided the strength to get up again after every inward or outward defeat; on the other hand it made the soul rub itself raw on the barbed wire, making it impossible to settle down in captivity or come to terms with it. - Jurgen Moltmann, writing about his experience in a WWII concentration camp

Hope buoys our spirits and helps us endure present hardship - and at the same time, hope agitates the spirit because it makes us painfully aware that our current reality is clearly not how the world is supposed to be. For both of those reasons, hope is one of greatest resources we have in our fight against injustice.

How do you experience hope as a comfort these days?

Where do you experience hope as uncomfortable these days?