The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, through perseverance we wait eagerly for it.”

—Romans 8:24–25

We tend to think of waiting as bad but hope as good. The truth is, we can’t have one without the other. In fact, the words “hope” and “wait” are often translated interchangeably in the Bible.

If we are hoping, we are waiting, because we do not hope for what we already have.

Here’s the difference: waiting can be done with a bad attitude and might lead to discontentment, anger, bitterness, or harmful behavior; hoping requires peace, trust, and confidence. In order to wait well, we must have hope. And hope requires trust and confidence.

If our hope is truly already placed where the Lord tells us it should be—in the lasting, eternal things of his Word, his promises, and our infinite inheritance with him—then we will endure and persevere even in our waiting. We will only become angry, in a hurry, and discontent where our trust and confidence in the Lord falters.

So when we’re frustrated by a season of waiting, we can reflect on who God is—unchangeable, sovereign, true—and change the word “wait” to “hope” in our minds. “We’re hoping, persevering, eagerly waiting, and trusting the Lord for what he has promised he will accomplish in his Word.”

Some of what we wait and hope for will not be realized in this life (Hebrews 11:13), but we can still live with undying hope.

Our Lord has promised that the best is always yet to come.

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