The Eternal Flame of Hope

 

In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:18-25 ESV).

 

It was the afternoon of Sunday, November 24, 1963, when Colonel Clayton B. Lyle, a 1937 graduate of Texas A&M, was watching television in his living room in Washington, D.C. He had recently returned from an assignment in Europe to find the capital in bedlam. Two days before, President John F. Kennedy had been assassinated in Dallas. Tired and saddened because of the tragic event that had happened in his native Texas, Lyle was trying to relax when the telephone rang. The caller was Lieutenant General Walter K. Wilson, Jr., chief of U. S. Army Engineers, and Lyle’s boss. "We’ve got a problem," his commander began. "We have to have an eternal flame to mark the President’s grave by eight o’clock tomorrow morning. You’ve got the job." The flame was engineered, constructed, and lit by 8 am the next morning. It continues to burn today as a symbol of eternal life.

 

In our reading today, the Apostle Paul writes, Abraham believed “against all hope.” That’s quite a tribute. In fact, it almost sounds as if Abraham’s hope “without weakening in his faith” earned him the righteousness he got. I admire that; I appreciate that Abraham is a part of the “cloud of witnesses” we can read about in Hebrews 11. He inspires me to want to strengthen my hope and faith.

 

However, if determination to have stronger hope and faith is all I get from this passage, I wouldn’t be hearing what God is saying. The strength of our hope and faith does not start with us; it starts with what we hope for and what we have faith in. That’s what Paul is explaining here. God made a promise, and God keeps his promises. This is the God who raised Jesus from the dead. My faith and my hope didn’t make that happen; God did. My faith and hope simply embrace what God promised and did. He is God, and our hope is in him, not in the power of our hope. In these days when we seem to need hope more than ever, remember what God has already done for you! That’s the real eternal flame.