Tuesday, December 2

Hunting Hope

By JanElle Hoffman

Psalm 33:20 - 22

We wait in hope for the Lord;

    he is our help and our shield. 

In him our hearts rejoice,

    for we trust in his holy name.

May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,

    even as we put our hope in you.

“I got a couple bars of service so I thought I would give you a call,” my husband Todd told me. He sounds cold, I thought to myself. I was relieved to hear from him; first time in five days. He had been camping on a mountain. By himself. In the snow. 

Why, you ask? Why would a man leave his warm comfy home to trudge through deep mountain snow all day then hunker down in a cold tent at night? Hunting elk. Oh the lengths my determined husband goes through to hunt elk. Scouting for days before the season starts, traversing difficult terrain to follow tracks, sitting patiently for hours in a single spot - all for a chance to bag that elusive beast of the Rockies.

Sometimes we approach hope the same way, as though it is an evasive target that we can’t ever quite catch. We scout out the perfect job opportunity only to have the offer evaporate before we even get an interview. We follow the trail of what will be that relationship we have always hoped for and it leads nowhere. Will we ever find someone to share our life with? We sit patiently in a difficult season of life wondering if anything will ever come around the corner that will make a difference. 

The more we hope in people or jobs or situations or money or comfort or ease, the more hopeless we will feel. The only source of real hope is in the LORD. 

How do we hope in the LORD? In the Old Testament, the Hebrew words for hope can also be translated as “wait for.” So hope is this expectant waiting and watching for something to happen. How perfect for this season of Advent as we watch and wait for the coming of the LORD. We are watching and waiting to celebrate the fact that he came. We are watching and waiting for the day he will come again. And we are watching and waiting for him as he comes each day. We wait expectantly, ready to respond to his love, his grace, his presence. 

The lesson of Advent is that if it is the LORD in whom we hope, we will not hunt an invisible quarry. We will know his help, his protection, his joy, his love as we hope in him.