You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘hopelessness’ tag.
“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” Isaiah 55:1
We’ve all heard the old saying. “If it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.” In most of life, the saying is full of truth, unfortunately. The relationship you found is amazing. He/she does everything you ever expected. You pinch yourself and say ‘It’s too good to be true’, and a few weeks later the relationship ends when the real person emerges and you hear the small voice inside say “If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t’.
You look for a house where you can raise your family. As you are moving in you fight off the visions of watching your grandchildren swinging from the tree in the backyard. Never mind the fact that you are expecting your first child. Years from now the dream will come true. You are sure of it. Until the promising job you have ends abruptly and you lose the house. As you are moving your young family into a too-small apartment the vision of the back yard swing comes back and you hear the voice, ‘If it’s too good to be true, it probably isn’t.’
Life is full of dreams and hopes and anticipation, but all too often that anticipation turns to discouragement because people, careers, finances and health fails us. We watch television shows about the rich and famous and wonder what it would be like to have all the money in the world. To see something you want and get it without a thought of how it will affect the electric bill at the end of month.
I can give you an idea of what it is like. Not because I’ve ever been there of course. I have little hope of ever being in that lifestyle. But I can tell you based on what I’ve read and heard. The suicide rate and drug use rate and divorce rate is amazingly high for many of those who ‘have it all.’
Perhaps the wealthiest man in all of history put it in his own words. “I had it all,” Solomon said, “I had women, and money and power. If I wanted something, I got it. Know what I found? It couldn’t buy my happiness and contentment. It was meaningless and worthless.” (Read the book of Ecclesiastes for the real story.)
The only source of true fulfillment and contentment is found in our Heavenly Father. The only way to find true and meaningful peace is through the God of creation who promises us that he will take from his wealth and his storehouses to give us all we need to be content.
An unending supply of money will provide you with all your physical needs, but the needs of the heart will only be met through a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need to fill that hole in your soul. And best of all, it’s all free for the asking.
You will pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me, For You are my strength. Psalm 31:4 (NASB)
One day a Hummingbird got ‘caught’ in our garage. It apparently darted away when we came out of the house and flew into the garage. It couldn’t figure out that if it just flew down a couple feet it could go out the garage door. To rescue the small, frightened animal I took a couple butterfly nets and gently trapped it inside the nets and carried it to safety.
The small, frightened animal couldn’t have known that safety was just a few feet away. It couldn’t have known that the monstrous animals chasing it around its cell were trying to help it. I couldn’t have known that the nets that eventually captured it were meant for good, not evil.
It’s the unknown that scares us most, isn’t it? Like the Hummingbird we can go through life thinking that our safety and protection depends on our own ability to figure things out. But life isn’t predictable, and every net that captures us isn’t for our own good.
Relationships we seek may seem to be safe and fulfilling until the ‘honeymoon is over’ and anger, rage, frustration and abuse set in. Business dealings may seem ‘too good to be true’ and then we find out they were too good to be true and we lose our retirement. Friends and even lovers may pledge their allegiance and later we find out that they are saying things behind our backs, cheating on us or, in some other way, making us out to be the fool. Politicians and bosses make promises to us that turn out to be empty words.
It’s not the nets of entrapment we see that are dangerous, it’s those that are laid in secret that are our biggest threat. Like an animal walking through the forest, unaware of a pit hidden by brush, we fall into situations that catch us off guard. When that happens we end up at the mercy of our captor. The walls are too steep, the darkness to deep for us to find a way out. Desperation, fear and depression join with hopelessness to become our biggest enemies. There’s no way out.
That’s when your Heavenly Father steps in. That’s when God comes to the rescue. There is no pit too deep but that he can’t lift you out. There is no darkness to black but that his light can’t shine through it. The reason you are in the pit you are in is irrelevant. How you got there is of no concern to God, getting you out is his biggest priority.
Whatever pit you find yourself in today, God wants to lift you up. Whatever net has you entangled, he has the power to tear it open and provide your route of escape. You may have spent a lifetime refusing to acknowledge his existence or wandered away from him in the forest. None of that matters. His goal is to free you.
PRAYER: Father God, I’m trapped. The nets the enemy has thrown have hit their mark. The fear and darkness of this pit I’ve dug for myself are too steep. Please rescue me through your love, grace and forgiveness. Amen.
Your anger lasts a little while, but your kindness lasts for a lifetime. At night we may cry, but when morning comes we will celebrate. Psalm 30:5 (CEV)
There is a common misconception that if you are living under the will of God you will always feel his presence and power in your life. The reality however, is that sometimes, even if we are working hard for the kingdom, we struggle to find ‘God’ in our lives.
When God seems silent, our natural assumption is that he is angry at us; that we have done something that has separated us from full fellowship with the Father. Some of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time have endured the ‘silence of God’. David asks God why he has forsaken him in several of his writings. Even Jesus Christ asked, “Why have you forsaken me?” as he died on the cross.
Mother Teresa endured several periods of spiritual drought in her life as she ministered to the needy in India. She writes, “If there be God — please forgive me — When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven — there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives & hurt my very soul. — I am told God loves me — and yet the reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul. Did I make a mistake in surrendering blindly to the Call of the Sacred Heart”
So how do we handle those times when God seems angry with us? How do we cope with the silence during those times when it seems our prayers barely make it past our lips; when the words from the Bible seem empty and we struggle to find our faith?
There are no easy answers. We can ask God to examine us, to spend a time of serious self-reflection in which we open the floodgates of our soul to him and implore his Spirit to enlighten us. But there are times when even this seems futile. That’s when the promise of Psalm 30:5 may give us comfort.
The Father’s anger lasts for a moment. He is a patient daddy. He doesn’t blow his lid at the smallest infraction, doesn’t lash out unexpectedly and wound our soul. He’s a patient teacher, a friend, a confidant. But there are times when he must rein us in; when he steps back to discipline, to correct, to catch our attention.
But when God’s anger seems directed towards us we can know his anger lasts for short time. When the dawn begins to lighten the eastern horizon we know the darkness of our night is over. The fears, the anxiety, the worry will soon be over. All that was shadows in the dark will be revealed.
In the same way, God will eventually reveal himself to us once more and we will rejoice in his presence. Have faith. Endure those silent times. Focus on the words of promise we have. He loves us with an everlasting love. His anger and silence doesn’t last forever.
PRAYER: Father God, there have been times when I’ve felt your anger and I confess it was my own doing. Selfishness, pride, lust and arrogance convinced me my way was better. There have been other times I’ve sought you and could not find you. I praise you for the promises of your word and that your silence and anger lasts only a short time. Amen.
The poor and the homeless won’t always be forgotten and without hope. Psalm 9:18 (CEV)
Looking back, I’m amazed at how my mother got five boys ready every Sunday morning for Sunday School. Those were the days of white shirts, black pants and clip-on ties. Somehow she made breakfast, had dinner in the oven and all five us in the car and on the way to church almost on time every week. Having dad as the pastor helped a little, he HAD to be there. He would often go ahead with anyone that might be ready. The rest would usually follow in a second car…just in case.
It may not come as any surprise that on occasion we’d all be called to dinner table after arriving home and notice that one chair was empty.
“Where’s Mike?”
“He told me he was riding home with you, that he’d asked you and you said it would be okay.”
“Never saw him. I bet we forgot him at church. I’ll be back.” And with that, off dad would go to drive to church and pick up the solitary figure waiting patiently on the church steps.
It didn’t happen often, but occasionally that scene was played out for each of us kids. We’d get busy playing with a friend or exploring the back rooms of the church and find ourselves alone…forgotten. Fortunately the church was only a couple miles from home and no permanent damage occurred.
No one likes to feel like their forgotten. My story was a humorous on, but there are those who feel forgotten by God, by family or by friends on a daily basis. Their lives are filled with hopelessness, loneliness and despair. The reasons for their plight are numerous. Some have run away from abusive relationships or been sent away and feel as though God himself has forgotten them. For some their entire lives have been a battle of survival. Health issues, financial struggles, poverty all work together to bring people to their knees in despair.
The forgotten may seek comfort from the enemy of despair in many ways. Some sink into depression, some strike out in anger to take what isn’t theirs to comfort them. Others use drugs, people, or even religion to mask the pain of being ‘forgotten’.
The inevitable question in the midst of our feelings of hopelessness and being forgotten is, ‘Where is God in all this? Why hasn’t he come to my rescue?”
When you feel like God has forgotten you, remember that you are never gone from his sight. He knows your every step, your every thought, your every feeling of despair. Peter writes (2 Peter 3:9) that God isn’t slow concerning his promise. He’s patient and whatever you are going through isn’t a sign that he can’t deliver you. He can. But for reasons we may never know he’s allowing this for your strengthening.
Remember the words of Jesus (Luke 12:6) when he says that even sparrows, insignificant as they are, will never be forgotten by God.
Don’t allow the wilderness of your soul to let you think you are forgotten by your Heavenly Father. Your Father loves you. Your hope isn’t grounded in the things of this world (health, financial stability, strong relationships), your hope is grounded in eternity and the love your father has for you.
PRAYER: Father, in my despair I feel forgotten by others and even by you at times. Thank you for loving me. Help me to feel your hand upon me through this current struggle. Empower me to trust you when the future seems so bleak. I put my trust in you. Amen.
I pray also that you will have greater understanding in your heart so you will know the hope to which he has called us and that you will know how rich and glorious are the blessings God has promised his holy people. Ephesians 1:18 (NCV)
It wasn’t the teachings of Jesus that drew people to him. It was his character. That may seem strange to say. We focus our energies on what Jesus taught, and to be sure, those teachings are the basis of life. The things Jesus taught us bring hope from despair, confidence when we are afraid; wisdom when we are worried; direction when we don’t know the way. But the reality is, the blind man wasn’t able to fully understand the spiritual blessings Jesus had to offer until his vision was restored. The parents who lost their little girl no doubt knew that God was a mighty and powerful God, but the full realization of what that meant didn’t come until their little girl sat up in the very bed she’d died in moments earlier. The father who sought Jesus out for healing for his demon possessed son knew the power of prayer. Why else would he seek Jesus out? Still, until he saw his son in a normal, calm state of mind, he didn’t fully grasp the significance of the hope Jesus offered.
Jesus’ teachings simply backed up, clarified, and verified what he’s already done in the lives of people who were in need. No wonder that in the garden he prays for those who will seek him after he is gone. He understood the difficulty we have as finite humans to believe without seeing; to hope in the unseen; to live by faith when prayers seem unanswered, and life is unbearable.
As Christ-followers we are called to show others the hope they can have in Christ. What an awesome privilege! So many are looking for hope in today’s world. Hope to get through physical pain and illness. Hope to endure the pain of relational disaster. Hope to endure one more day of starvation or the ravages of natural disaster.
Paul prays that we will understand the hope Jesus has called us to. Why this prayer? Paul also knew, perhaps better than any of us what it meant to be rejected, alone, in danger, despised and rejected. But he also knew the hope only Jesus can offer. People around us aren’t seeking profound teachings or messages of a better tomorrow. They are seeking strength to get through one more day. What can we do to show them the hope of Christ? That answer is different for each of us because we each live in different situations, different circles, and different circumstances.
PRAYER: Lord Jesus, I am surrounded by people who are seeking hope in a world where hope seems dwindling at best. I praise you for the hope you have shown me and the blessings of living in you. Empower me with strength, courage and wisdom to lead those around me to the hope I’ve found in you. Amen.
Mike Fisk & Built with Grace 