What Are You Bound To?

“I hope it works.”

I’m a little ashamed to admit how many times I’ve flippantly used that phrase when talking about finances, business, and life.

Even when I felt like God was calling me to start this blog, in my head I was saying, “I hope this is right.”

Maybe you’ve launched a new business, a new product, a new venture and thought the same thing… I hope.

The truth is, we don’t really understand what biblical hope actually means.

In Hebrew, one of the words often used for hope is tiqvah (תִּקְוָה).

Unlike our modern version of hope — which usually sounds more like “it would be nice” — tiqvah comes from the root qavah, which means to wait, to bind together, to expect.

That alone is already different than how we tend to think.

But even more literally, tiqvah means a cord — like a rope.

And I can’t get that image out of my head.

Because it begs the question:

What are we tying ourselves to?

In Joshua 2, we read the story of Rahab. You might remember it. The Israelite men come into Jericho, and Rahab hides them from the king. Later, she lowers them out of her window, and they tell her to hang a scarlet cord (tiqvah) from her window. When the Israelites come to battle Jericho, she and anyone in her house will be spared.

That scarlet cord wasn’t random.

It was a line of hope.
A visible sign.
A declaration of allegiance.

Rahab chose to trust God over the king of Jericho. In that moment, she transferred her loyalty. She said, “Adonai will be my protector and provider — not the king of this land.”

Not through the Mosaic Law yet, but through trust and allegiance, she entered into covenant with the God of Israel.

And the sign of that covenant?

A cord.

A line of hope hanging out her window.

She literally bound her life to Him.

And that’s the question that hit me hard:

What do I bind myself to?

I would love to say it’s always God.
But if I’m honest, sometimes my actions tell a different story.

Do we bind ourselves to a business?
To a client?
To a paycheck?
To a strategy?

Where do we put our expectations?
What do we cling to?

Do we hold onto God like we’re bound to Him — in hard seasons and good seasons?

Or when things start to look uncertain, do we reach for other solutions… other systems… other kings?

It would have been easy for Rahab to say, “The king of Jericho will save me. He’s always protected this city.”

So what do we look to for protection?
What do we look to for provision?

Because the truth is, if God is our hope, He’s who we would look to first.

Not a strategy.
Not a business partner.
Not a business plan.
Not a steady paycheck.

God.

Is He the cord of hope you’re holding onto with expectancy?

I pray that God keeps reminding me — and helping me — to look to Him first.
To bind myself to Him, not to the things of this world.

Because the next time I say “I hope,” I want to remember something:

Hope isn’t just a wish.
It’s a cord.

And that cord is binding me to something — or Someone.

So the real question is:
Who is your hope tied to?