Hope

Hope is such a glorious thing! It is that magic motivator that allows explorers to face unknown dangers in pursuit of a conquest and keeps oppressed hearts beating until deliverance finally arrives. Hope is the companion of faith and charity, the fuel of dreams and visions that ignites the weary heart to believe again. It is a powerful force indeed when carried within the human soul! Hope is God-ordained and every human should possess a good dose of it. However, hope has a treacherous side to it that can quickly turn our mountain of expectation into a destructive avalanche.

After being defeated in WWI, Germany struggled to get back on its feet. The ensuing rule of the Weimar Republic further steeped the nation in political instability, violence and economic depression. Germany was ripe for hope and that hope presented itself in the form of a charismatic, 5'8" tall chancellor named Adolph Hitler. Today we see his mustached face and recoil at his hideous atrocities that will forever stain the annals of history, but in 1933 most Germans, whether rich or poor, educated or non-educated, young or old saw that same face as their hope for a brighter tomorrow. Only a comparatively few frustrated individuals and rejected fringe groups perceived that underneath Hitler's immense popularity there existed the perverted seeds of hate and revenge that would drive Germany to its knees once again. Can we fault a desperate Germany for falling under the enchantment of such a clever fellow? It is easy to do this in the clarity of retrospect, but the fact remains that as long as man hopes, man will be vulnerable to whatever or whomever he chooses to put his hope into.

It is easy for us to commit Germany’s same error. We follow our own instincts and end up holding a full cup of disappointment and sorrow. It is through these tears that the truth of God becomes magnified. "Happy is he... whose hope is in the Lord his God." (Psalms 146:5) Charismatic chancellors may deceive us, but the King of Kings is a sure investment for our hope.

Works cited:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. www.ushmm.org/wic/en/article.php?Moduleld=10007331      Accessed Aug. 11, 2013