Something to chew on....Hope

I was looking up some verses on "hope" and this stuck out like a sore thumb and it made me laugh in agreement!

"But he who is joined with all the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion." ~ Ecclesiastes 9:3-5

I can't say exactly why I laughed in agreement, other than my spirit resounded in some great truth! My initial reaction just leads me to remember what Father has brought me through the last few years of faith and it's true...to have hope in a living God with what may not look like much to others, is far better to live a life that feels dead but a lion's reputation.


Here are more verses on hope:


"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life." ~Proverbs 13:12

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." ~Romans 15:13

"So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love." ~I Corinthians 13:13

" Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." ~Hebrews 11:1
 
"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." ~I Corinthians 13:7

I've heard many messages on love and also faith but not so much on hope. It is interesting to find that hope is sandwiched between love and faith--the three great virtues highlighted in I Cor 13:13. It is also interesting to find "hope" as part of the definitions of both love and faith in Heb 11:11 & I Cor 13:13.

Maybe hope is some secret ingredient that Father wove in love and faith. After all, what is love without hope, and how can you have faith without it? Maybe the order of faith, hope, and love is there for a reason.

Just some thoughts...