Hope: Sangkhum

I can’t lay any claim in choosing the word HOPE for this year, rather I believe that hope chose me. God’s message of hope has really been an anchor as I travel through this season of uncertainty and upcoming changes. It is not only a word that God has placed on my heart this year, it is a decision to remain faithful in hope that I daily make. The next steps look rocky and full of challenges, but they are taken in faith and obedience. In light of this transition, and longing to move forward in hope, I had a silver necklace made with the Khmer word for hope; sangkkum. I now wear this word treasure as a reminder of the surety that I have in Him.

Hope is often understood in such wistful terms. Most people associate hope to wishful thinking, that small whisper than wills itself into being and says “I hope it will happen.” Yet this belief falls short of the Biblical definition of hope. Hope is long-range faith, a confident expectation in what is to come. It is looking forward, in the light of God, with full assurance that even though things are unclear and unknown right now He is still faithful. Without this hope life loses it’s meaning, pain sustains its sting and the future is seen through the eyes of disappointment rather than expectation. In hope the righteous turn to God, their author and sustainer. They hold onto His promises, believing they are true even though they are not yet fully known and continue to wait in hope. Hopeful people have a confidence that goes beyond their current circumstances, that declares that God is who He says He is and He will do what He says He will do. Christian hope is so much more than just a feeling; rather it is a way of living and looking forward to what is to come. This needs to be grounded in full confidence in Him, so that no obstacles in the journey ahead will be able to sway it. Hope is not getting caught up in the storms of life, rather steering through them with the confidence that these too will pass, that He has good purposes and will be glorified in all things. It is refusing to sink into doubt and fear, but pressing on in full assurance that He is greater than the obstacles we face.

I am reminded of the following verse in the great hymn Amazing Grace:

The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures,
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.

I long for my heart to be at rest in hope, to be assured of God’s good and perfect plans for me as well as the people and places I love. I want to recognise that His Word is the security that I require of His constant faithfulness. My future will consist of Him being my protector and provider for as long as I shall live, with the added promise of eternity with Him to come. What a gift and a great security for a weary soul.

As I consider my last few months here my main comfort is found in hope. I have hope that God will continue to bless the investment that I have made here, realising that I may not experience its fruit this side of Heaven. I pray in hope that God will continue to move and bless the beautiful nation of Cambodia, that He will call others and equip them for this work and will increase the harvest. I believe in hope that He will daily sustain my friends, those who will spread to various corners of the globe and even those that I leave behind, that even though we are apart we have a shared hope in God and the treasures of having experienced life together. I choose to have hope for what may happen next, to be assured that God has good plans for me and to remain secure in His Word. He promises to remain with me, to protect and sustain, and therefore I have hope.