Job is a book of both despair and delight. Job has fallen on difficult times. Some of his friends gather around to offer insights into his current reality of having lost all he had. Frankly, much of their advice is couched with a judgmental spirit along with a sense of superiority. In all of this, his “advice-givers” drop a genuine nugget of insight every now and then.
Zophar the Naamathite, in his reply to Job, drops such a nugget. In Job 11:18 we read, “You will have courage because you have hope.”
Think about this statement. Hope spawns courage. Courage holds onto hope. Hope keeps us holding on. Courage strengthens our grip.
What Zophar appears to be helping Job, and us, understand is that the pathway to courage is paved with hope.
Hope is that glimmer of light in the darkest of days. Hope is the sense with one more step you can find your way through. Hope continues to probe for solutions to the, seemingly, unsolvable problem.
Hope is the one more. One more try. One more stride. One more connection. One more minute of faith. One more idea. One more action.
It is this hope that will manifest itself in courage. Courage is the willingness to take the one more. Courage is activated by hope. Courage is getting up each morning with hope. Courage is the will to push through. Courage is the actions in the everyday.
Hope inspires courage. Courage ignites hope. Each is two-sides of the same coin. Hope alone can be pollyanna-ish. Courage alone can be isolating. Together the motivation is provided to live each day in strength.