March 31, 2018

Hope Is Coming

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. – Hebrews 6:19a

He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. – Isaiah 53:3-4

Today is the day in between. We have suffered through Good Friday but we haven’t yet seen the miracle of the Resurrection. We our lost, alone, abandoned. Where is hope in the midst of our circumstances?

If you’ve never experienced deep betrayal, harsh words thrown at you, sudden illness, even death, then count yourself fortunate. Jesus warned us that in this world we would have trouble. We see it all around us. We ache from the pain that rips our hearts apart.

We forget that He also said, “I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) We are not lost or alone or abandoned. Hope is coming. Jesus is coming. We just have to get through today.

In the deep valley, it’s sometimes hard to see the sun coming up on the horizon. We look around and see only darkness. The path is rocky, the way unclear. We have been abandoned, rejected by those closest to us. Lies surround us and we wonder if the truth will ever raise its head. It will. Hope is coming.

He was despised by those who didn’t understand. Jesus was mocked and ridiculed. He came to save us all from our sins but we wanted no part of it, of Him. We wanted to live and be a part of this world. We were greedy, arrogant even, in our demands. Until the moment it was all gone. Why did we fight so hard for something we were never meant to have?

This world is not our home. We hear that and nod in agreement. We know what we’re supposed to say, what we’re supposed to believe. Yet we live as though this is all there is. We puff up in self-importance, refusing to acknowledge that it was never about us.

Hope is coming. He hung from a cross. He died so you and I wouldn’t have to spend eternity separated from God. All we have to do is believe, to put our trust, our hope, in Him. Why is it so hard to let go of the things of the world in order to embrace the inheritance that awaits us in heaven?

Maybe we don’t really believe. We know the answers but our hearts tell a different story. Our actions push aside what really matters. We live with our eyes on the prize before us rather than the home that awaits us.

Hope is coming. Jesus was arrested, ridiculed, rejected and abandoned. And yet He loved us enough to conquer death and offer us a way to salvation. Hope in the midst of darkness. Hope in the midst of pain. Hope in the midst of rejection.

Reach out. Don’t you see? There is light just over the horizon. Hang on. Hope is coming.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Trust In God Alone

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. -- Hebrews 6:19a

Hope can be so cruel. I know. You think I’ve lost my mind. Hope is full of promise and optimism. It is a light shining toward a better day. Sometimes.

Other times it is a tease, nothing but a cruel hoax. It is that dangling carrot that is tossed out of reach at the last minute. It breaks your heart to know that something you once never expected, then thought possible, is now once again out of reach. It would have been far better to never have hoped in the first place.

It is a possibility of a cure offered to a dying person. It is the possibility of a job advancement where once there wasn’t. It is the possibility of obtaining something where no chance existed. Hope. Where once none existed.

The cruelty comes when the claim was never true. The acceptance once felt by the dying person has now turned into despair. The contentment once experienced by the worker has now become brokenness. The peace that once ruled has become emptiness. False hope does that.

My Bible defines hope as desiring something with confident expectation of its fulfillment. We hope in the Lord. We trust in Jesus. We believe God. That is true hope at its finest. But hoping for things that involve people…well, that’s just counting on disappointment and disaster.

Put your hope in the anchor that is steady and firm. Place your faith on the rock that never waivers. Trust God, the only One who will never let you down.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Drink In God's Word

"Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing oHebrewsf God." --  6:7

As is often the case in the Bible, this passage of scripture isn't about farming. At least not the farming we see every day in this part of the country. No, this farming refers to people. To believers. To us.

The land is those of us who seek the Word of God. We study and learn from the rain (scripture) that falls on our ears. It can happen in church, in Bible studies, in private reading and contemplation. But merely showing up to hear isn't enough. After all, how can anyone know we've heard if nothing changes. It's like when the rain falls down on a crop. We know it rained because the plants become lush and green, producing spectacular crops. Drought will kill those same plants. Just like drought from God's Word will destroy our own foundation.

I am so thankful that a distant cousin pushed me into an in-depth Bible study. Maybe pushed isn't the right word. I wanted to attend the Beth Moore study. My heart cried out for it. But I was so aware of my own inadequacies. I would be surrounded by people who grew up attending church. People who could not only name all the books of the Bible but who could actually find them without checking the table of contents. Didn't you have to actually know the Bible to study it?

Actually, no. Because once I got there, I found that willingness to learn was all that God required. Beth is wonderful when she asks listeners to turn to a certain passage. She assumes no one knows how to get there and gives hints as to where it is. It was okay to fumble along. Now, years later, I know mostly where things are. But I still have to check the table of contents sometimes. And that's okay. Really. God doesn't test us on things like that. He only ever tests our hearts and I know when He sees mine, He sees love for Him.

I figure He'd rather have me stumbling along than to have me be one of those people who already knows it all. You know who I'm talking about. They're the ones who never do Bible studies because they've studied it all. They don't read the Bible regularly because they've read it before. They know it all. Just ask them. It is so sad. They are missing so much. The Bible lives and breathes. It's Words touch us where we are, while we are there. I am so amazed every time I read a passage I've read many times before and discover something new. I'm thankful too.

I want God's blessings to pour down on me. I want to learn and study, to absorb all He has to offer me. I want to be like the crop that received needed rain and produced in abundance. My arms are outstretched to receive His wisdom. His knowledge. His love.