The Hope Chest

Have you ever heard of a hope chest? Maybe not, if you’re under 30. It used to be common for a young girl to collect items she expected to use one day when she set up housekeeping. These items were placed in a small chest or a box or kept in some other special place. My wife Candy had a hope chest when she was a girl. Sometimes her dad would bring home small gifts like towels and other knick-knacks that she stored away for the future. Candy tells me that we still use a hand towel she kept in her hope chest. Sensitive guy that I am, I hadn’t noticed.

Times have changed and hope chests have gone out of fashion, but they raise an interesting question: Do you have a spiritual hope chest? What items have you collected over the years that give you hope? Here are some hope-producing items that help me.

The Lord’s promises. In times of grief the Bible itself is a hope chest, comforting us with reassuring promises. “I will be with you always.” “I go to prepare a place for you.” “My grace is sufficient for you.” “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.” “He will wipe every tear from their eyes.” The skeptic might say these are only words; but they are the Lord’s words. Where would we be without these priceless promises of God?

Uplifting music. The Holy Spirit uses psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to touch our emotions and heal our hearts. A great song of praise can make us cry even while it reminds us about the sustaining love of God. When we join our voices to sing “Great Is Thy Faithfulness” or “It Is Well With My Soul” at a believer’s funeral, the lyrics remind us that our “hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”

Faithful friends. Recently Candy and I visited a former teacher from our Bible college days whose wife died this year. They had been married for 50 years. We took him to lunch and talked for a couple of hours, listening carefully to the way he is processing his deep feelings of grief. “If I didn’t have the hope of Heaven,” he said, “I would lose my mind.” But he does have the hope of Heaven. “I know where she is,” he continued, “and I can’t wait to be there with her.” As our visit concluded and we drove away, Candy and I talked about how our grieving friend strengthened our own faith. We needed to see that, even in the midst of overwhelming sadness, our former professor truly believes what he taught us long ago—and he does. He grieves, but “not like the rest of men, who have no hope” (1 Thessalonians 4:13). Despite the heartbreak our friend is experiencing as he misses his wife, the Lord of life remains his anchor.

Resurrection glimpses. Subtle reminders of God’s resurrection power surround us. Smiling parents smile cradle a newborn baby in their arms. A determined purple crocus pokes through the gray ice in March. A kernel of wheat buried in the ground grows into a stalk that produces dozens of seeds. A dark rainy night gives way to a glowing sunrise. Saul the persecutor becomes Paul the apostle. The most irreverent and skeptical classmate you knew in high school eventually becomes a Christian and a model father.

The Bible says, “Weeping may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). Promises like that one keep hope stirring in my chest. What is in your hope chest?