i need some feedback on this one.
i'm thinking through the issue of "hope" again.
and whether or not it's ever ok for a Christian to say "i give up. no more hope."
i'm speaking not of hope about the big picture, but hope about a specific situation.
i'm going to give an example. it's just an example. it's not the situation on my mind, but it actually compares really well.
so, for example:
i am looking for a new job. let's say that 15-20 years from now, nothing about my job situation has changed. i'm working the same job. i've applied for thousands more, and gone on thousands of interviews. but there's still no new job. i go on the interviews, and they go well. people like me. they say i have potential. but they always go with someone else. i get really close to having that new job, but i never actually get one.
is it ok to say "abandon hope" about that situation? to stop hoping for a new job?
God hasn't promised that i'll get a better job, or that i'll ever make a certain amount of money. He hasn't.
and it's not as though i've been saying "i need this new job. if i don't have this new job, my life has no meaning. i don't know what i'll do without a new job."
i haven't put my hope in that job, but i still hope to get one.
i find joy in different aspects of my life, and of course in Christ. i have all i need.
but every now and then, i'll see a new job posting, and think "that'd be a great job." so i apply for it. and get turned down. again, and again. and again and again.
isn't it foolish to continue hoping for a new job? isn't giving up hope the most rational thing to do?
i hope and trust and know that God provides for my every need, and i am satisfied with Him being in charge. of course i have moments when that's not true, but mostly...i like Him being in charge. even though my job is hard, i have learned so much through it. so much about myself, my sin, and my need for God. and how beautiful and wonderful He is.
but this hope, this longing...won't go away. i'm about to pray for God to take the hope away, but something about that just seems strange. and i feel like He won't. because it's been 15 years.
of course this is complicated and i even have some ideas, but i'd still like some thoughts.
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4 comments:
I think as long as you have a strong desire to hope for a change of circumstances, God listens and there is no reason to give up hope. you never know when God might change your circumstances!
oh hey that was from me.
emily
Emily, if you went on that many job interviews over 20 years, you could quit your job and write a book about the evolution of job interviews.
If ever there was a lady who was "supposed to" give up hope it is Diane Garnick. She fought through so much and has a life now better than most dream of.
When you're about to lose hope, focus on people like her. They can change the world with their smiles.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Diane-Garnick/188133090053
I think as long as the desire is not against scripture, and is not gaining control of your life, or taking your focus off the Lord, there is nothing wrong with maintaining hope for it. I think God wants to give us the desires of our hearts, in His timing, as long as it is what will be the best for us. I would not give up hope. Whatever the desire, if it's there, and STAYS there, and meets the above criteria, there is most likely a reason for it, even if it's not clear now. Hope and faith are not rational, either, so the "rational" thing to do does not mean that is the "right" thing to do. Hope that adds something for you to think about. :)
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