Based on how we use the word, "hope" appears to be one of the more fragile concepts in modern life. After all, when things are at their worst, we continue "on a hope and a prayer," trusting that we have "pinned our hopes" on something worthwhile. But, if we were to be reasonable, we would know our efforts continue "against all hope." Only for the most naive does "hope spring eternal"; the rest of us regularly see our "hopes dashed", and we become afraid "to get our hopes up."

To "hope" is to admit a lack of control of an outcome, to recognize more powerful persons than ourselves, and to accept conditions that will not bend to our will. To "hope" is to fear the dreaded Circumstances Beyond Our Control. To "hope" is to deny one of the strongest myths of our age, and that is the myth that we can manage our own destiny.

Of course, and we shudder to admit it, we know we cannot. We read all the reports of recent, fearsome ailments like AIDS, but we know those close to us who are fighting against ancient illnesses that our medicines are not advanced enough to subdue. We design building codes to help structures cope with natural disasters, and we are far better prepared than once we were, but the impacts of fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, and other natural forces still humbles our efforts to withstand them. Even when we do something as benign as designing devices and web sites with an "idiot-proof" user interface, we are always embarrassed by how intelligent those "idiots" turn out to be.

It is sad not to simply accept this truth: we as humans either live in hope, or our lives become truly hopeless.

Once we accept that our lives need hope, Paul builds for us a powerful sustaining cycle of hope in the first part of Romans 5. We lay the foundation when we find One in whom to put our hope, and accept the salvation and grace which God gives to us. Accepting this unbelievable and priceless gift from God transforms us into children of God, and Christ brings us into the family, so that we will "share in the glory of God." God's love builds our hope, and our hope strengthens our dependence on God, so much so that even what would have broken our hope before now serves to strenghten it.

This hope is not weak, and it keeps getting stronger as we walk with God. It is no longer wishing, but confidently expecting. It is not searching for answers, but recognizing the power in truths we do not have to see to believe and in the heavenly realities so powerful they make our earthly existence appear as a mirage.

No matter how glorious the outcome, the walk to which God calls us is not easy. Paul tells us we will face suffering, and that suffering can come in physical disease, emotional pain, even shame at our failures and sins. Suffering will remind us of our frailty, and we can rebel against it or deny it, or we can embrace who we are and depend on God to heal. Paul cautions us that we will develop endurance, because God's times are not our times, and the suffering we go through always lasts longer than we want, but God knows that growing in faith in difficult times makes us a stronger, more confident child of God—and our hope, our expectation of God's goodness, becomes stronger still.

The strongest force in the universe, God's love, will bring this about in our lives, to the degree that we allow it.