The Thing with Feathers -Emily Dickinson and R C Sproul

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune without the words,

And never stops at all.

And sweetest in the gale is heard,

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

  -- By Emily Dickinson

One of my best remembered poems from high school literature class.

Hope perches in the soul - not flies over, migrating to search for another home - it can always sing (hum?) the tune, even when the words are forgotten - and never stops at all.....

From R C Sproul:

Though he slay me, I will hope in him (Job 13:15).

Scripture says the just shall live by faith, which doesn't mean believing something when you're not sure if it's true.

It means that the just shall live by trusting God.

Paul distills the essence of the Christian life when he says, "Rejoice in your hope" (Romans 5:2), since our joy is vested in the future that God promises for His people.

Our joy as strangers and sojourners in this valley of tears is that God has prepared a place for us -- a better world that will be consummated at Christ's return.

Paul's use of the word hope isn't the way we use the term today to refer to things that are uncertain.

He and the other biblical authors talk about hope that is certain, hope that cannot fail, and hope that will not disappoint or embarrass us.

The New Testament calls hope the anchor of the soul.

Why? What is it that makes it certain?

The answer is God's sure promises and the demonstration of His faithfulness in the history of Israel, in the lives of the Apostles, and most clearly, in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us. Romans 5:5

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

Hebrews 6:17-19