285. Consolation and Hope
2 Thessalonians 2:16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.
Jesus Christ and God the Father have freely given us everlasting consolation and good hope. That’s a promise we need. We need consolation is the midst of misery and trouble, and we have it; and it is everlasting consolation. Comfort from God will never end, but it will always be there any time we need it, and especially when we need it most. And the comfort from God is also everlasting in the sense that He reminds us to take the long view and look at the big picture. “This, too, shall pass.” Every kind of adversity we go through now will come to and end. Every crisis will be resolved in its time. Nothing lasts that long, except for all the good things promised by God: love and life, joy and happiness, peace and harmony, safety and security, purpose and fulfillment, contentment and calm, and much more. We can take comfort in the knowledge that this life is short and eternal life is really long.
And we have been given good hope. We need hope in the midst of disappointment and despair. Through life we become disappointed with many things and many people; we are even disappointed with ourselves. Expectations and dreams have not come true. Broken promises litter our journey. Hopes for better things are often dashed. We even become disappointed in God, because He seems to let bad things happen or He didn’t do what I wanted Him to do. But God has given us good hope; the hope is good in two ways: it is good in that He gives good things; it is good in that it is certain and sure. Hope is the present certainty and guarantee of future good things undiminished by bad things.
Hope springs eternal in the heart, not only because it is unquenchable but also because it is the sure hope of eternal things. Hope is the present reality of God’s Life, which is eternal. And all of this is given through grace: it is free to us, but costly to God.