“Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.”
Psalm 62:5
This past week I read a quote from Dr. Haggie our health minister where he said, “Hope is a girl’s name, not a strategy.” I can only assume he said this as he addressed the people of our province as we face, what feels to be, the unending battle with COVID 19. Truthfully, it’s his job and the job of the medical professionals and the government to ensure that there’s a good strategy in place to keep us safe and solve the issue. However, the quote left me feeling a little unsettled and here’s why…
Hope is a word that we use so often. We use it so frequently that we don’t even realize how much we say it. Hope is something that keeps our hearts and souls alive. If we didn’t live with hope I think we’d be sick. Hopelessness, is a great disease. The bible tells us in Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Hope is an expectancy. Waiting for the best news. Waiting with anticipation. It’s an excitement that keeps our hearts beating.
This is Easter weekend. And, for those of us who are believers this weekend is marked with so much HOPE! For God loved us so much that he sent his one and only son to come into this world and die a criminal’s death – all because He couldn’t imagine eternity without us! The old rugged cross that Jesus carried upon his beaten and bleeding body and then hung on became the HOPE for humanity! That in Him we no longer have to fear death, sickness, loneliness, hopelessness or unworthiness. HE PAID THE PRICE and our HOPE is in Him! There is no greater HOPE. There is no greater love! I’m reminded of the old hymn “The Solid Rock”:
My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
But wholly lean on Jesus’ Name”
We can wholly lean on Jesus name because we can place our hope in Him. He will not disappoint! He will get us through these hard times because that’s simply his promise! And, what a perfect time to remember that as we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Saviour! For our hearts can be at peace as we wait quietly before Him because our HOPE is in Him!
So, as for Dr. Haggie’s quote? Although I appreciate and commend his hard work and dedication, I have to say that Hope is not a girl’s name. Hope is a baby born in a stable, who walked this earth, lived a sinless life and gave up his life for you and I so that we could spend eternity with Him.
Hope has a name and that name is Jesus!