HOPE
Hopelessness.
Do you know the feeling?
It is a dark place, and a lonely one.
It is devoid of joy or peace, and is overwhelming in its weight.
It is a place filled with lies about your identity, your present, and your future.
If you have ever been in the place of hopelessness, you know exactly how oppressive and tiring it can be.
I have been in that place.
I have been so very low and so very lonely, and wondered, “How can I possibly escape this place of feeling?”
I have doubted the light, I have been overwhelmed by the darkness.
But here I stand.
And the only anchor that I know to be sure is this:
Turn your eyes toward Jesus, beloved child.
“We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace,that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [Hebrews 4:15-16].
Do you see the beauty of Him?
Does your heart start to crack and do your knees start to bow at the truth of who He is?
The gospel was never about getting happiness or getting security out of that cross.
The blessing always was, and always will be found in our Messiah Jesus.
He is the Hope.
He is the Reason.
He is the Answer.
He is the Hope that will not disappoint you. He will mend you in brokenness, He will comfort you in suffering, He will strengthen you in weakness, He will fight for you in darkness. He will never leave you, He will never forsake you.
We can experience Hope here and now because our Jesus points the way. We know our present and future are secure, because HE can never be taken away from us.
I’ll be honest, friends.
I write this particular post with tear-streaked cheeks and a heavy heart.
I am still walking through a season of hardship and heaviness, and I am not yet on the other side.
But I am not without hope.
I must choose to worship in the middle of pain, because in that worship I am reminded that my Hope is Jesus and He will never disappoint.
“We have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies“ [2 Corinthians 4:7-9].
Go ahead and let those earthly things die within you.
The hope you’ve stored in success.
The hope you’ve placed in circumstances.
The hope you’re clinging to that is attached to any thing in this world.
The hope that guarantees to disappoint.
Open your hands and accept the Hope of Heaven.
Our beautiful, faithful Jesus.
Let Him do a work in your soul and renew those dark and hopeless places.
His Hope is eternal, secure, and exactly what your heart has been aching for.
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” [2 Corinthians 4:16-18].
