There is no better elixer for the soul than HOPE. You may not realize it, but hope is the underlying driver for any human endeavor. From the student in college, to the new mom, to the amateur or professional athlete, to the political candidate, to anyone; people invest their time, energy, and money in things they hope for.

“Hope springs eternal in the human breast.” – Alexander Pope

Not only does hope drive temporal human behavior, it also drives our spiritual reality. The Bible teaches us that we are saved by hope: “For we are saved by hope” – Romans 8:24 KJV. This saving hope comes from our faith in the eternal life promised to us by Jesus Christ. The hope of those who love God is that He is taking care of us in our lives, and that when we pass from this life, we look forward to an eternity of joy and peace. The famous English poet Alexander Pope, the author of the hope springs eternal quote, knew this well. Here is the passage from Pope’s poem ‘An Essay on Man – Epistle I’ written c. 1733:

Hope humbly then; with trembling pinions soar;
Wait the great teacher death, and God adore.
What future bliss, he gives not thee to know,
But gives that hope to be thy blessing now.
Hope springs eternal in the human breast:
Man never is, but always to be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin’d from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

You can read the complete text of The Essay on Man here.

One day we are going to meet our Maker face to face, and until that day hope springs from within.  And on that day when we meet, faith and hope will be no more. Faith will give way to knowledge, for we will see Him and know that He is and that our faith was not in vain. Our hope will therefore be fulfilled, what we had waited for, what we had hoped for, has become our reality and so we hope no more. The one thing that will remain is charity, which is the Love of God. The Apostle Paul puts this idea very eloquently in his letter to the Corinthians: “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” 1 Corinthians 13:13 KJV, another Bible Double.

Have you ever hoped for something, believing you would receive, but you wait, and you wait, and you wait? It doesn’t come and you tell yourself to be patient. After all, don’t good things come to those who wait?

Hope deferred makes the heart sick. – Bible or Not?

Today’s quote says that hope deferred, or in other words, when you hope for something and then have to wait, it makes the heart sick. Hmmm… is this true? Experience says yes. But is it in the Bible…or Not?

Two questions for our Bible or Not quote today.
    1) Is it true that it’s darkest before the dawn?
    2) Is the “darkest before the dawn” quote found in the Bible? 

“It is always darkest before the dawn.” – Bible or Not? 

I have heard this quote many times, and most of us understand that these are words of encouragement to those going through “dark” times. When all hope is lost, and you feel like your calamity will never lift, it’s encouraging to believe that good times are right around the corner. The meaning of this quote, that even during the worst of times you can have hope, can be very powerful to help us take another step and live another day with hope of a better tomorrow. 

But is it actually true that it’s always darkest before the dawn, and is it in the Bible? 

1) It is not true that it is darkest before the dawn. Scientifically, it is darkest at midnight, i.e., it is darkest at the time which is the midpoint from dusk (sundown) to dawn (sunrise). This is the point at which the sun is on the opposite side of the earth, from the point at which the night is observed. Or in other words, the point that is 180 degrees away from the sun. This is true especially during the new moon when there is no reflective light coming from the moon. 

The Darkest Place at Night is 180 Degrees from the Sun

 2) The origin of the quote “It is always darkest before the dawn” is NOT in the Bible. This quote has been used in many movies, in many books and in many sermons. While there is some disagreement as to the origin of this quote, there is a consensus that it was authored by English theologian and historian Thomas Fuller (1608 – 1661). The actual quote attributed to Thomas Fuller is:

“It is always darkest just before the day dawneth.” -  Thomas Fuller

So, there you have it.