Tonight Garry spoke from Ezekiel 37, the valley of dry bones, and asked if we were hopeful or hopeless? Often people seem to be just going through the motions of survival, with hope and faith seen as little more than wistful wishes. For Israel at this time, in Babylonian exile, it seemed their hope had gone. They had thought God would protect them and they had automatic rights to help, but they had not listened to His calls to repent through the prophets and so were bewildered when exile finally came.
We too can often be bewildered by what God does (or doesn’t do). Someone dies unexpectedly, despite our prayers, and we feel lost. Life is unfair and God does not always protect us from this. Sometimes we have to go through things rather than be taken out of them and to live in Good Friday is profoundly disappointing. But there is hope: Sunday’s coming.
We need hope to survive and to thrive. Rom 12:12 urges us to ‘be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.’ We have the hope that death is merely an end (not THE end). We have the hope of life and light and that we are not alone now (John 14:15-18, Matt 28:20). We have the hope that comes from being unconditionally loved (Eph 3:18-19) and valued (Luke 12:6-7). We have also been given peace (John 14:27) and have the hope of eternal life (see 1 Pet 3:15-16).
We all need hope. Hope outside of God is limited at best, but God can give us hope. Paul prayed, ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.’ (Rom 15:13) What a hope we do have! What a hope we can share!
