Acts 28:20 -- On Hope and Chains

"For this cause therefore have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you: because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain."
Acts 28:20


It's interesting here to see the imagery of hope causing chains... and with that thought, two things spring to mind for me.  

One of them is the very real and sometimes distressing fact that sometimes bad things happen because we are making the *right* choices, not because we're making the wrong ones.  Paul gave up persecuting the people of Christ and joined with them, but because he did, people were trying to murder him, leading him to this point.  Abinadi also suffered for doing what was right, and wasn't saved at the last minute as Daniel was.  Things don't always work out in this life when we make the right choices, much as we would love to believe that.  They do, however, always work out in the end, because life continues after death, and God will make *all* things right in the end.  We just have to have faith and endure the sometimes-bad things, knowing that good is coming. :)

The other thing that sprang to mind is the idea of hope "as an anchor of the soul" (Hebrews 6:19), which makes us "sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God" (Ether 12:4).  Maybe chains aren't all bad, if they are attached to an anchor like that. :)  Sometimes our desire for more options is at odds with our need to walk a straight and narrow path.  Is our definition of freedom just a state in which we can do whatever we want, or is there more to it... the chance to grow and progress and build and nurture, which are things that require certain boundaries and choices and progression rather than just pure chaotic urges.  Like the old analogy about learning to play the piano.  The freedom to play doesn't come without patience and practice, and freedom *from* those things leaves us not free to have that expertise.  No matter how much we want that, we won't be able to just have it without rules and structure.

Today, let's trust in God and hope in him, whether it brings negative consequences or not.. and let's hold onto that hope even if it sometimes feels a little restrictive.  The commandments aren't there to harm us, but to help us.  We are free to live life without hope, but is that really a freedom that we want to pursue?  Instead, let's trust God, and learn more, and know that he always has our best interests at heart and is leading us to more joy than we can imagine.  With patience and faith, we'll get there, together. :)