Hope Is Not a Wish List
Let’s be honest: sometimes when we say we have “hope,” what we really mean is… “I really hope God does what I want.”
Like, “I have hope my situation will change,” or “I’m holding onto hope that this will work out exactly as I planned, with extra sparkle and no suffering, please and thank you.”
But biblical hope?
It’s so much richer—and so much less controllable.
Hope Is Not a Back-Up Plan
Hope isn’t a soft version of faith or the religious cousin of optimism. It’s not a coping mechanism. It’s not a spiritual shrug that says, “Well, I guess I’ll hope for the best.”
Hope is faith in motion. It’s alive. It’s active. It’s rooted not in what we want, but in who God is.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for…”
—Hebrews 11:1 (KJV)
Faith gives weight to hope—it makes it tangible, solid, something to stand on. And the object of that hope isn’t a particular outcome. It’s the Goodness of a Good Father who sees beyond what we can imagine.
The Present Purpose of Hope
We often tie hope to the future, like it’s something hanging out there in the distance with our dreams, goals, and Amazon wish list. But real hope has a purpose in the present. It helps us breathe deeper now.
It changes how we walk through the unknown today.
Because when our hope is in God—not just what He might do—we can trust that whatever happens, it will be good. Not always easy. But good.
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”
—Romans 8:28 (NIV)
(Yes, even that thing. The one you wish had a return receipt.)
A Hope That Celebratess
I love how the Mirror Study Bible puts it:
“Faith celebrates as certain what hope visualizes as future.”
—Hebrews 11:1, Mirror Study Bible
Faith throws a party before the answer comes. Hope hangs the banner and blows up the balloons because it knows God is good, even if the outcome looks different from what we expected.
That kind of hope says:
“I don’t know how this will turn out, but I know the One holding it. And He is Good.”
A Little Humor to Ground Us
If my version of hope were a person, she’d be nervously pacing with a clipboard, micromanaging God’s timing and muttering, “If You could just stick to the agenda, that’d be great.”
Thankfully, God’s hope doesn’t need our clipboard.
He’s not flustered. He’s not running behind.
He’s already present in the future we can’t see yet.
Final Thought
Hope isn’t fragile.
It’s fierce.
It refuses to be defined by outcomes and insists on being anchored in Someone unshakable.
So today, don’t just “hope it gets better.”
Hope in the One who is always Good, always present, and already working.
Prayer
Father, thank You that our hope is not limited to results or outcomes, but anchored in Your unchanging goodness. Help us walk in the kind of hope that holds steady even when life feels unsteady. Teach us to celebrate Your faithfulness, not just when we see it, but because we trust it’s already at work. Amen.