Anticipation and Disappointment Part 5
February 19, 2026
Anticipation and Disappointment Part 5
When there is so much doom and gloom, division and conflict, how do we have hope?
In the spiritual life, the activity of anticipation can come under the heading of Holy Hope. When viewed through the eyes of Holy Hope, the future holds that which we need and want. And if we are spiritually attuned, we know that if the future doesn’t bring what we want, we still have hope. How is that possible?
Today I was speaking with a gentleman in his eighties, neatly dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt. Living out in the country, where he farms and hunts, he proudly wore an Alabama Football team baseball hat and had the type of enthusiasm, smile, and twinkle in his eye that was good to be around. We were both waiting in line and as is customary, fell into conversation about ourselves and the weather. He said that he used to be able to take the cold weather, but now it is too much of a challenge.
The gentleman mentioned moving to warmer areas, but he didn’t want to live under the threat of hurricanes. Then he mentioned that tornadoes are a problem in our area. With all this talk about the weather's uncertainty, he looked downward, and his smile turned into a look of concern… that is, until he seemed to remember something that gave him hope. Then his spark returned.
With a look of hopefulness, he said, “We never know what is going to happen, but the Good Lord wills it all.” This dear man’s theology may be simple, but how profound it is. That one statement revealed what gave him hope… hope that a higher power had reasons beyond his understanding about why things happen the way they do. For a split second, I thought about asking him if the Good Lord wills the deaths of innocent children in Gaza, or Israel, or if the Good Lord wills the enslavement of millions during that era of US history, or if the Good Lord wills the deaths of those who die in tornadoes and hurricanes? I wondered how he would respond to that, but I left it alone and pondered the wisdom of his statement all day.
Theologians have discussed the issue of God’s will for centuries, and many conclude that there are three different types of wills of God. 1. God’s sovereign will (what God decrees and causes). 2. God’s revealed will in holy scripture, and 3. God’s permissive will; God’s allowing of suffering and other occurrences for greater purposes.
The conscious spiritual life is not a Pollyanna view of reality. What is real is real, even if it includes the worst. We can change our response to reality and we can pray. Philippians 4:6 (NKJV): "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” But even if our prayers change things (and this has undoubtedly happened in countless circumstances) we have to work within reality, which sometimes means accepting the worst.
This is a hard pill to swallow, but even harder for those who have to believe that God causes only what they consider good things in life. (In this theology, the bad is frequently ascribed to the devil’s work.) But the gentleman I spoke with today seems to have accepted that God wills it all. Even if he may not have studied theology, he understands that God’s laws govern the cosmos and that we do not fully understand them.
The will of God is a mystery, and terrible things happen. For those of us who have suffered tragedies, and all of us who suffer grief in some form, we must accept that these are somehow allowed by God… that is the hardest pill to swallow. But knowing that these injustices, losses, and unspeakable tragedies somehow figure into a story of ultimate redemption, somehow helps soothe our pain. We can be hopeful that there are divine reasons for all that happens. Then the Divine's story plays out before our eyes.
Spiritual practice: What is your personal theology of God’s will?
Self-inquiry: How do you accept those tragedies that the ego feels are unacceptable?
Prayer:
Dear God, I pray to trust the mystery and to be hopeful because I trust. Amen
