God Hopes
God hopes. — by Thom Powell.
I believe that God hopes. I believe He hopes that all men will be saved. He hopes that his children will obey Him. He hopes that we will choose to love Him.
As it turns out, the concepts behind this belief are often debated. The idea of God hoping is certainly problematic for some people’s theology. From a complete determinist’s perspective, for example, God hoping simply isn’t possible. If God has ordained every event that will ever come to pass, then He cannot hope for anything other than the outcome He has predetermined.
I’m not going in deep on this one today. Instead, I am going to briefly refer to a few of the passages from which I have drawn this conclusion. I HOPE you will share your thoughts with me.
You can comment directly below the column here on Medium, or, if you found this on Facebook, you can comment below the original post from the page 4thebibletellsmeso.
#1 I believe that God hopes all people will be saved. By that, I mean, God hopes all people will choose to become his children and receive eternal life.
I believe this because Scripture indicates that God does not desire the death of the wicked, is not willing that any should perish, and is a God of mercy and love.
“Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?” — Ezekiel 33:11
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” — 2nd Peter 3:9
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” — 1st John 4:8
“(Love) Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.” — 1st Corinthians 13:6–8
Love hopes. If God loves, He hopes.
#2 God hopes his children will obey Him.
In Zephaniah 3:7, God says that he had hoped the people would repent, but that which he thought would happen does not…
“I said, Surely thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction; so their dwelling should not be cut off, howsoever I punished them: but they rose early, and corrupted all their doings.” — Zephaniah 3:7
It seems to me that God’s love for these people caused Him to believe they would repent. They did not repent. Because He hopes, God said of them, “thou wilt fear me, thou wilt receive instruction,” but we know from the second half of the verse that they did not. I recognize that He does not use the word ‘hope’ in this verse. However, He appears to be communicating the fact that He had had a positive expectation which was never fulfilled. In other words he had a hope which was not realized. If God can have positive expectations which are possible to disappoint, then He must be capable of hoping.
In other passages, God is seen testing people to see if they will obey Him or not…
“And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” — Deuteronomy 8:2
If God knows the outcome, as opposed to hoping for an outcome, why would He need to test for the result?
#3 God hopes that we will choose to love him.
This thought is closely related to #2. Jesus said in John 14:15, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
Again, we see Jesus communicating a desire that we know we are capable of disregarding. Jesus wants to be loved. He even tells us in Matthew 22, that loving God is the greatest commandment. Jesus tells us in John 14:15 and again in 15:14 that obedience is the proper way to express this love. God wants us to love Him, but there are people who simply do not. From this, we know that God desires certain outcomes which do not come to pass. A desired outcome, when not guaranteed, can only be defined as a hope.
Now, one could counter-argue that outcomes are guaranteed, because God already knows who will obey and who will not. This argument is sound if true. Unfortunately for those who hold this position, the Bible does not say that God knows who will obey or disobey. In fact, the Bible says that God tests us in order to see if we will obey or not. I’ve already addressed one example. Here is another:
Exodus 16:4 “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
According to God, why did He only give one day’s worth of manna at a time? In Exodus 16, God describes Himself observing Israel to see whether or not they would obey. Sometimes, when God tests people, He mentions their heart. I believe this word choice is meant to indicate that God is testing the love of his people. Again, we must bear in mind the relationship between love and obedience emphasized throughout the Bible. That is what is meant when God ‘tempts’ to see the heart. Take a look at God’s testing of Hezekiah:
2nd Chronicles 32:31 “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
God wants us to love Him. He commands obedience as the means to communicating that love. He then tests us to see if that love is present in our hearts. When we obey, God discovers or rediscovers our love for Him. When we disobey, we show a lack of love toward God. If disobedience is not from a lack of love toward God, it is at least linked to an improper love for something else. When we sin, we choose our desires over God. I supposed that is why the Bible calls covetousness idolatry. (Colossians 3:5) When this concept is understood, God’s emotional reactions to sin make a lot more sense. God repeatedly describes Himself as a jealous husband who has done everything he can to win his bride’s affection.
Maybe that’s the lesson we are meant to get from these passages. Each time we are tempted to sin, we are about to show God whether or not we love Him. Every moment we choose to remain in sin, God is watching and hoping that we will come back to Him. As a loving Father, He hopes and sometimes even pleads with us to repent. This comes directly from his desire to be loved!
I believe that God hopes. He hopes that we will love and obey Him. Ultimately, He hopes that all people will be saved. Paul’s goal in preaching was to see all people repent. (Colossians 1:28)
God, being a God of love and mercy, hopes all people will be saved. He sends messengers like Paul who are filled with the hope that they might, “…present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” God hopes that his love will be reciprocated. Sometimes, like Job, we pass that test. Sometimes, like Peter, we fail. The good news is, we can always come back to our Father. I believe the God we serve not only allows us to repent, but actively, lovingly, and mercifully HOPES that we will!
But, what do you think?
I really am interested to hear anyone and everyone’s feedback. Learning about God is the greatest opportunity we have in life. This opportunity is greatly enhanced when contrasting perceptions can be weighed against each other. Please provide scripture references if you have a criticism. That way, I don’t have to guess where it’s coming from!
