Hope

I was this close to titling this post Disappointments. Really. I just feel like there have been so many of them this year. The relentlessness of bad news, cancelled plans, chaos, hate, destruction, change, change, and more change. It's heavy, and hard, and exhausting...and if you're anything like me, you are weary.

It's so easy, especially in current circumstances, to be discouraged. With each new disappointment you lose a little bit more of your footing. With every new change, you slip ever-so-slightly into a pit of unknowing. With every flip of the channel, more bad news...and soon you're in so deep that nothing even surprises you any more. The worst part is that it would be comical if it wasn't all true {Lord help us!}.

I know. I've been there. I am there on some days...when darkness just seems to be so thick that the Light can't possibly get in. And yet. And yet.

There, amidst the chaos of the political climate, people are coming together to talk about real, needed change. There, as the world around us seems to be spinning out of control, relationships are being mended because families are being given the gift of time together. There, as our plans and schedules are twisted and skewed, our eyes are opened to the incredible importance of essential workers. With every sorrow comes an opportunity to see things differently. With every disappointment, a hope for tomorrow.

"He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."

David pours his heart out in Psalm 40:1-3 and proclaims, "I waited patiently for the Lord; he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; He set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God." (emphasis mine). As we pour out our hearts to the Lord, He hears us as well. As we sink further and further down into our own pits, into believing that this world is past redemption...He reminds us that He is the Rock, He is our firm place to stand, and He will (oh-yes-He-will) put a new song in our mouths. He will show us beauty where ugliness abounds because He is "the Light of the World" (John 8:12). And while we don't always like to hear the truth bomb in the first part of John 16:33, "...in this world you will have trouble", but oh friend, can you rejoice with me in the last part when He declares, "But take heart! I have overcome the world." Oh, thank you, Jesus!

Life here on earth will never be perfect. And sadly, tomorrow will probably bring the same kind of utter chaos that today held...but that doesn't mean that there isn't still beauty, and goodness, and peace. And though it is all too easy to dwell on the past, the changes, the bad news and the cancelled plans, the Lord encourages us by telling us not to live there. He says, "...do not dwell on the past...I am making a way in the wilderness and steams in the wasteland" (Isaiah 43:18-19). Notice he doesn't say that He's taking the wilderness or the wasteland away, but that He will provide for us while we walk (or sometimes limp) through them. Be encouraged by those words, friends.

There is Hope for every season under the sun. The is Hope in the darkest night and in the times we feel most alone. There is Hope when all seems lost. There is Hope for you. For me. For this nation and this world. There is Hope. His name is Jesus.