When I began studying Hebrew through the Biblical Language Center, I had to pick out a Hebrew name to use during class.  After much searching, I settled on Tikvah, which means hope.  The name resonated with me as I was hopeful about how God would work in my future and through the endeavor of learning Hebrew.

After about two years of studying, I was surprised to see my Hebrew name in Scripture for the first time when I read through Ruth.  Naomi says in 1:12 (NIV), “Even if I thought there was still hope for me…”  It caught my attention and I got a little excited.  I thought, “Hey!  That’s my name!”  This led me to pull out my Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon to look up my name.  I knew it meant hope, but what else might I find?

Well, my surprises continued, because I found it literally means cord, like a rope or twine.  Not only that, but it has a verb form.  We see this in English, too.  For example, a person vows a vow or sacrifices a sacrifice.  The verb and the noun are very similar, and in some cases identical.  I was assuming I’d find that the Hebrew meaning would be similar to English, such as, a person hopes with hope.  But that’s not what I found.  Instead, I discovered that a person waits in hope.  Here’s the lexicon’s definition (qavah):  Wait for.  Probably originally twist, stretch, then of tension of enduring, waiting.

I could almost feel that definition down to my bones!  Can anyone else resonate with that?

Does it not feel like we are being stretched as we wait in hope?  Do you also feel the tension of enduring?  Hope is a cord we hang onto or hold out.  Perhaps you are familiar with Rahab from the book of Joshua, Chapter 2.  She was the prostitute in Jericho that hid two Hebrew spies.  She helped the spies escape by letting them down through her window by a rope, a scarlet cord that was to remain in the window as a promise of future protection.  She literally held out tikvah: a rope, hope.

Viewing hope as a rope helps in our understanding of hope.  Our hope is anchored to something, just like ropes are secured.  Scripture compares and contrasts the hope of the godly and ungodly.  Picture these ropes in your mind:

Yes, my soul, find rest in God;
my hope comes from him.
Truly he is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.
Psalm 62:5-6 (NIV)

The prospect of the righteous is joy,
but the hopes of the wicked come to nothing.
Proverbs 10:28

Be careful as to where you anchor your hopes.  Throughout the Bible, hope is referred to as a confidence, a certainty.  That’s not how we view it in today’s language or culture.  It’s more like a wish, “Oh, I hope I get all my errands done today.”  But Biblical hope is strong and sure.  God is our strong anchor and will never abandon us.

That doesn’t mean we don’t have to wait.  Hope means that we are waiting.  We are waiting for His rescue and for the fulfillment of His promises.  Dozens of verses charge us to wait for/hope in the Lord.  Take Psalm 25:21, for example:

May integrity and uprightness protect me, because my hope, LORD, is in you. (NIV)
Let integrity and uprightness protect me, For I wait for You. (NASB)

There is danger when we let go of God’s rope of hope and go our own way, refusing to wait for Him.  Waiting is difficult.  We feel the tension between where we are and where we hoped we’d be.  Waiting stretches us and causes us to grow.

Hope is something that not only anchors us to God, but also binds us together.  Every believer shares a hold on this rope called hope.  It connects us to one another.  We can support and strengthen one another in our hold on hope.  Do not neglect community, but stay in touch with other believers.  Encourage each other in this:

Wait for the LORD;

Be strong and take heart

And wait for the LORD.

Psalm 27:14 (NIV)

Weekly Scripture Reading
Psalm 71 (verse 5, noun: hope/rope)
Jeremiah 29:1-14 (verse 11, noun: hope/rope)
Lamentations 3:19-26 (verse 25, verb: hope/wait)
Psalm 25 (verses 3, 5, 21, verb: hope/wait)

Originally posted February 1, 2021.