It’s often difficult for me to hear the word ‘hope’ and associate it as a positive.  I think a lot of times when I use that word it’s surrounded by doubt or unbelief.  Even saying the phrase out loud, “I hope so,” as I type this, comes out with such a tone of hopelessness.  Scripture uses the word ‘hope’ time and time again and it has always been difficult for me to relate positively to these verses.  I’m not sure why or when the word ‘hope’ became associated as a negative for me, but I do know that our Father is not hopeless,  He is not doubtful, and He is not unbelieving.  So if we are supposed to “Hope in the Lord,” if my hope is supposed to be “in You alone,” and yet I relate “hope” to something negative then Houston we have a problem, for sure.  

I’m a big ‘compare versions’ scripture-studier, so while the Bible in my hand is ESV, I’m also reading NLT, MSG and TPT on my YouVersion Bible App.  Comparing versions of verses allows me to take the translation of words that speak most to my soul and put them together for a verse that now means the most to me.  For example – Psalm 31:24 has the following translations :

ESV “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the Lord!”

NIV “Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord”

NLT “So be strong and courageous, all you who put your hope in the Lord!”

TPT “So cheer up! Take courage all you who love Him.  Wait for him to break through for you, all who trust in Him”

What you would find written in the margin of my Bible would be : “be strong, let your heart take courage, all you who trust in the Lord, wait for Him to break through for you” 

When comparing versions of scripture you’ll see ‘hope’ ‘wait’ ‘trust’ used interchangeably and you’ll find biblical hope defined as “confident expectation.”  A synonym for ‘confident’ is ‘positive’ and a synonym for ‘expectation’ is ‘belief.’  “Positive belief.”

Have hope in the Lord.

Have confident expectation in the Lord.

Have positive belief in the Lord.

“Hoping” in something sounds to me that a thing may or may not happen.  “Hoping” in God sounds to me like I’m putting my feet on sand, not on a rock. But if I know that “hoping” means “trusting,” it changes everything for me.  Simply finding the words that mean the same thing grammatically, but mean something different to my soul, changes how the reading of scripture impacts me.   

Knowing that “to hope” also means “to trust,” and that “to trust” also means “to wait,” allows me to have a greater understanding of not only what I’m reading but WHO I’m reading about.  It brings me closer to the heart of the Father knowing that hoping means trusting, and trusting means waiting. 

There are some things that God has spoken to me about my life that I simply have zero vision about how they could happen.  Not being able to see how these things will happen leaves me with the choice to either not believe them -or- have such a hope (trust) in Jesus that I’m able to confidently wait on Him to bring forth that which He has shown me.  

Because I trust in Jesus, I can hope in what I cannot see.

Because I hope in Jesus, I can trust in what I cannot see.

Because I trust in Jesus, I will wait with positive belief for what I cannot see.

Because I believe and trust in Jesus, I will wait expectantly for what I cannot see.

They all mean the same thing.  Which one speaks deepest to your soul?