Living a Daily Life – Enduring through Hope

Only months ago, pandemic updates dominated the news. Remember when worry about the future availability of toilet paper governed shopping? At the time shelves were empty in many grocery stores. And just recently the news was about empty shelves of cough and pain medicine for children. Now it’s about the chaos in air travel. The news moves on but worry about having enough stuff or the ability to travel continues. With war in the Ukraine, our confidence in a dependable future is seriously shaken.

Someone has said that hope springs eternal in the human breast. But hope for an end to this European war or hope for the supply chain to be repaired; these are not what Christian hope is. This “hope-so” hope merely exposes the fragile nature of human life, international trade, the limitations of science, the vagaries of the stock market, and governments’ limited abilities to cope with crises.

Christian hope is an assurance about the future that is based on the rock-solid promises of the infinite, all-powerful God. And those promises are the heritage of every single person who responds to the gospel. All who confess their sins, turn from them, embrace Jesus as their sin-bearer have a secure future. That security and the hope it produces is a product of salvation.


The apostle Paul reminds us that the gospel he proclaimed produced concrete results among the Thessalonians. It led to “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3).

Gospel salvation generates faith and love which promote godly labour, kindness, gentleness, and compassion. Christian hope provides the endurance needed to keep on carrying on. We’re tired. We’re discouraged. We see so little happening. But we keep on. Why? “Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Not one act of compassion will be wasted. Not one prayer fall to the ground. Not one witness be wasted. Not one drop of water given to the thirsty evaporate. Not one visit to the lonely be in vain.

Why hope? Because Jesus said, “I give them [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Believers will be saved from the wrath of God that is to be poured out on a sinful world for “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). All genuine believers stand robed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. They are justified!

Why hope? Whatever crisis we face, Christ is there with us. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39).


Why do we have hope? Because dying is going home; it is embracing Christ in heaven. Although Paul wanted to stay with his disciples to help them, he longed to be in the presence of Christ. “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, … and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (Corinthians 5:6-8). “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Absent from the body is present with the Lord!

Why does hope keep us persevering? Because no matter how many times we stumble or fail Christ will pick us up. He will sanctify us through delivering us from the corrupting power of evil in this world and helping us overcome the temptations that may lay us low. The end result is glorification. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…and those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29,30). The result of this amazing process of sanctification will be Christ-likeness. That will be glory.


Why have hope? Because, “in my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Just think, a place prepared not by an architect or a builder, but by the creator!

Why hope? Because, “God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4).

Why? Because Jesus is coming again. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call God” (1 Thess. 4:16).

These are of a few of the reasons for the Christian hope, a hope that does not disappoint! (Rom.5:5). That hope stiffens our resolve and arms our expectations with confidence. The hope we have in a present, resurrected Savior, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the sovereign Father arms us with the perseverance we need to press on. So led us continue on to glory. Nothing, not even, a pandemic or a war can hinder that journey!

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

How Hymns Help Me Gain Perspective On Grief – A Man’s Journey Through Grief, continued, #25

There is snow on the ground, the weather is cold, and I resist the urge to go for a walk outside. My flesh is lazy. “Dad”, my daughter said just the other day, “you need to keep walking.” Sigh. It is true.

So, after I completed my list of jobs in town, I drove to the community centre to walk around the track. It’s on the second floor above the hockey rink. I punched the elevator button and had a flashback. This is where Mary Helen and I used to come in the winter. I can see her punching that very button. And as I began my walk, images followed me around the circuit.

It has been a good week in that it has been almost without overt expressions of grief. I’ve been able to talk about her without tears. I’ve been slowly constructing a new life. I don’t know why the sense of loss should suddenly come upon me at the community centre. Of course, I never know why…or when. It’s just that, at times, the sense that she is not beside me is overwhelming.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve tried to maintain a sense of perspective. I’ve reminded myself that I have been blessed, even though Mary Helen has been called home. I remind myself that some are suffering with cancer, some have lost a child, some have lost a spouse long before the three score years and ten they expected and some are living in war zones. I’m fortunate. We had so many good years. And she is rejoicing in heaven.

I began noticing something in many of the hymns I read in my morning devotions. It’s obvious really. Sorrow and loss is so universal its often expressed in our hymns. Here are a few examples.

Face to face with Christ, my Savior …

What rejoicing in His presence,

when are banished grief and pain

When the crooked ways are straightened

and the dark things shall be plain.

[Face to Face]

After the toil and the heat of the day,

After my troubles are past,

After the sorrows are taken away,

I shall see Jesus at last.

After the heartaches and sighing shall cease, …

[After]

Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,

but our toil he doth richly repay….

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way…

[Trust And Obey]

There is a name I love to hear,

I love to sing its worth;

…It tells of One whose loving heart

can feel my deepest woes,

Who in my sorrow bears apart,

 that none can bear below.

O, how I love Jesus….

[O How I Love Jesus]

Be still, my soul; the Lord is on thy side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to they God to order and provide;

In very change He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heav’ly Friend

 Thro’ thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

[Be Still My Soul]

We live in such an air-brushed society. Cheerful. Positive. Happy. True, the daily news tells about inflation, tragedy, murder, and war. But that’s out there in some one else’s life or across the ocean. Until our expectations of living “happily ever after” with the love our life crash into inevitable reality. Perhaps we—I mean I—need to pay more attention to the hymns I sing to gain a sense of perspective.

Down through the centuries grief and loss have been part of the human condition. Many of the hymn writers have written their experiences into their poetry. Such knowledge does not eradicate my sense of loss, but it does help me realize I am one among a great throng. And it reminds me how sorrowing saints down through the ages have been led to Jesus, the great sorrow-bearer. No wonder they sing, “Oh, how I love Jesus”. No wonder, they look forward to heaven so much.

It is my prayer that I will draw closer and closer to Jesus and that someone reading this soliloquy may be helped.  

Hope At A Gravesite – A Man’s Journey Through Grief continued, #12

Many of my posts since Mary Helen’s death have been laments which doesn’t tell the whole story of grief. I visited Mary Helen’s grave yesterday. I didn’t talk to her. I didn’t weep. I had no sense of her spirit hovering. She is not there. My soul was possessed by a certain, absolute hope, a firm assurance. Oh, I know the shell of her body are there, but she—the real Mary Helen—is in heaven with Jesus and a multitude of angels and saints. Her body awaits the resurrection when Jesus will descend. “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words” (1 Thess. 4:16-18).

As I look back over the past five months, the two things that stand out are faith and hope. They are connected. Not a wishy-washy, hope-so hope. Not a groundless faith. No, hope that merges with faith as a confidence in what God has said. “Faith is the confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Heb. 11:1). And we understand what we do not see because God has told us in broad strokes what will happen to believers who die in the Lord. It is written. As someone has declared. “God said. I believe it. That settles it.”

Such concrete hope has not meant that I haven’t grieved or that I should not grieve. The Bible makes clear that grief is a real and necessary emotion. That hope does not erase my sense of loneliness, the emptiness of our condo, or the weeping that comes unbidden. Hope does not overcome memories nor the longing I have for her presence. But hope forms the backdrop of all my days. I know where she is. I know I will go to her. I know Christ will return in triumph and create a new heavens and a new earth in which joy and purpose and harmony and holiness meet. That will be glory!

That faith and hope is what makes Christian grief so distinct. As Paul wrote “Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13,14). He continues by describing the victorious descent of the Lord to call the dead to rise. (By the way, sleep in death does not mean that souls are unconscious until the resurrection. Sleep is but one of many comforting euphemisms for death. Christ told the thief on the cross that, on that very day, he would wake up in paradise not fall into some insensate state. As Paul said in another place, “Absent from the body is present with the Lord.” Moses and Elijah, who were both dead talked to Jesus on the mount of transfiguration.)

Christians who are bereaved are not like unbelievers who have no hope. Hope is like the air we breath. The lungs that keep that air pumping to sustain hope, is faith. And that is why, when a loved one dies, we can either descend into bitterness and anger against God or be sustained by faith. Death is either a time for our faith to grow or fizzle into gloom and anger with God.

Consider the response of the disciples when Jesus died. They descended into unrelieved grief. Their hope was gone. They didn’t believe in the promise of his resurrection. He had appeared to Mary Magdalene and others of the women. They had told the apostles, but the women’s account “appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them” (Luke 24:11). He appeared to two men on the road to Emmaus. They admitted their disappointment at Jesus’ death. They failed to believe Mary’s testimony and were going home to grieve. They said, “We were hoping that it was He who would redeem Israel.” He responded, ”O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25).

Later Jesus appeared to the apostles in a locked room where they had gone to grieve. They were startled and frightened…And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts. See my hands and my feet’” (Luke 24:37-39). Earlier, Thomas had been categorical in saying that he would not believe until he could touch Jesus wounds.

Death without faith results in hopelessness, gloom and despair. But fortunately, after the disciples realized that Jesus was indeed alive, they were transformed. They went out everywhere preaching the gospel in spite of persecution. The certainty Jesus generated in their hearts was due to his visible appearance. In our case it is due to trust in what is written. As Jesus said to Thomas, “Blessed are they who did not see yet believed” (John 20:29). Faith is the dividing line between those who have hope at the time of death and those who don’t.

I am grateful that God, by grace, moved me to believe in the Gospel. And so, during Mary Helen’s deteriorating health and eventual passing, hope and confidence in God’s goodness and love surrounded us like a blanket. Mary Helen longed to depart and be with Jesus. Could I deny that? No, God knows best. Faith and hope makes this painful loss bearable. It doesn’t still the tears nor fill the lonely hours. But underneath are the everlasting arms!

Mary Helen

Five months. What about now? I am left. From Scripture I know that suffering, sorrow, grief and pain have a redemptive purpose. Clearly, I have much to learn through my grieving. I pray that I will be teachable. And I pray that my “confessions and vulnerabilities” will help others. God is good—all the time—whether we feel it or not.

A wonderful verse I’ve recently reviewed summarizes the comfort we find and it challenges me to look to the future for that “good word and work”. “Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Thess. 2:16,17, KJV).

(There are other posts in this series, such as #11, that I have not shared. Some are too personal. Others are in flux.)

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright –– Eric’s books are available at: https://www.amazon.com/Eric-E.-Wright/e/B00355HPKK%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share)

My Cracked Coffee Mug — My Aching Body

Do you enjoy coffee? I do. One of the secrets of savouring a good cup of coffee, in my opinion, is drinking it out of the right mug. Over three decades ago I found the mug. It was thick and deep with not too wide a mouth. It was a rich blue and white ceramic, able to keep coffee hot while I savoured it. Coffee should be drunk out of the right mug. And it should be relished slowly. Not for me the cardboard cup too hot to drink then quickly lukewarm.

I think it was in the early 90’s that I found my mug. It has been with me ever since. It’s followed me through three moves. One of the delights of life since that time has been brewing the first coffee of the day and retiring to my recliner with that steaming mug to enjoy reviewing one of the great hymns of the faith. And then checking out the news.

Then tragedy! The other day I found it cracked! No! I tried to keep using it but to no avail. What to do? I’ve looked but I can’t find a replacement. Groan. Maybe it’s time to accept the inevitable. Maybe that was a once in a lifetime love affair. Maybe it’s a parable of the frailty of life.

Okay, I realize it’s time for me to face my mortality. Where did my young body go? Where is the energy that had me climbing hills without stopping for a breath? Why does even the thought of running make me break out in hives. Why do my feet hurt? And what about my knees, both artificial. Forget abut kneeling in the garden to attack the weeds. Don’t even ask about my heart or the nitro patches I take to cover for a zillion blocked arteries. Why are there so many aches and pains? Teeth? Am I going to have to finally keep that dental appointment? Eyesight? Must I really see that eye surgeon?

Sigh. To be honest, I feel a lot like that cracked mug. It’s been a good run. But things are wearing out. And yet that’s natural—the normal course of life.

Fortunately, the future is not as gloomy as a cracked mug. It is as bright as the promises of God. “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me., In my Father’s house are many rooms, if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:1-3).

We know that we won’t settle into that celestial home with our decrepit bodies. “We will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, …the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…Death will be swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor. 15:51-54, selections). Isn’t the Christian hope wonderful? Will there be coffee in heaven?

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. If you appreciate this blog, please pass it on. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

Living A Daily Life — 5, Persevering through Hope

Pandemic updates dominate the news. Worry about the future availability of toilet paper governs shopping. Shelves are empty in many grocery stores. This panic about having enough stuff is but a window into deeper worries. Our confidence in a dependable future is seriously shaken.

We all hope the spread of this virus will slow and die out. We hope a vaccine will be found soon. We look to health-care professionals to win this viral war. And generally, they’re doing a great job. We need to pray for them. But this hope is not what Christian hope is. This “hope-so” hope merely exposes the fragile nature of human life, international trade, the limitations of science, the vagaries of the stock market, and governments’ limited abilities to cope with crises.

Christian hope is an assurance about the future that is based on the rock-solid promises of the infinite, all-powerful God. And those promises are the heritage of every single person who responds to the gospel. All who confess their sins, turn from them, embrace Jesus as their sin-bearer have a secure future. That security and the hope it produces is a product of salvation.

The apostle Paul reminds us that the gospel he proclaimed produced concrete results among the Thessalonians. It led to “your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3).

Gospel salvation generates faith and love which promote godly labour, kindness, gentleness, compassion. But Christian hope provides the endurance needed to keep on carrying on. We’re tired. We’re discouraged. We see so little happening. But we keep on. Why? “Because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor. 15:58). Not one act of compassion will be wasted. Not one prayer fall to the ground. Not one witness be wasted. Not one drop of water given to the thirsty evaporate. Not one visit to the lonely be in vain.

Why hope? Because Jesus said, “I give them [my sheep] eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Believers will be saved from the wrath of God that is to be poured out on a sinful world for “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). All genuine believers stand robed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. They are justified!

Why hope? Whatever crisis we face, Christ is there with us. “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20). “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38,39).

Why do we have hope? Because dying is going home; it is embracing Christ in heaven. Although Paul wanted to stay with his disciples to help them, he longed to be in the presence of Christ. “We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, … and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord” (Corinthians 5:6-8). “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Absent from the body is present with the Lord!

Why does hope keep us persevering? Because no matter how many times we stumble or fail Christ will pick us up. He will sanctify us delivering us from the corrupting power of evil in this world and helping us overcome the temptations that may lay us low. The result—glorification. “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son…and those he predestined, he also called, those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified” (Rom. 8:29,30). The end result of this amazing process of sanctification will be Christ-likeness.

Why have hope? Because, “in my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). Just think, a place prepared not by an architect or a builder, but by the creator!

Why hope? Because, “God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Rev. 21:3-4).

Why? Because Jesus is coming again. “The Lord himself will come down from  heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call God” (1 Thess. 4:16).

These are of a few of the reasons for the Christian hope, a hope that does not disappoint! (Rom.5:5). That hope stiffens our resolve and arms our expectations with confidence. The hope we have in a present, resurrected Savior, the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the sovereign Father arms us with the perseverance we need to press on. So led us continue on to glory. Nothing, not even, a pandemic can hinder that journey!

(Let me know your thoughts on this subject. Further articles, books, and stories at: http://www.countrywindow.ca Facebook: Eric E Wright Twitter: @EricEWright1 LinkedIn: Eric Wright ––)

Gilded morning

 

“When morning gilds the skies, my heart awaking cries;”
Beauty still prevails
Shining above the ugly and the evil
Above a world darkened by hatred and greed
“Yes, wrong will fail, the right prevail with peace on earth good will toward men.”
For around this spinning globe millions of little suns reflect the light of the Son upon the blighted lives of the persecuted, the hurting, the despondent, the careless, and the cruel.

These thoughts came to me one morning when I couldn’t sleep beyond 5:30. Instead of tossing and turning, I ventured down to the waterfront to watch the sun rise. I found the ducks and geese already up. As very gently, very slowly rainbow a kaleidoscope of light spread around, my mouth fell open in wonder. Such splendour. Such magnificence. Such pervasive loveliness.

The first words of a hymn came to mind, “When morning gilds the skies, my heart awakening cries, may Jesus Christ be praised.” But as the Christmas carol says, wrong seems to prevail.

The night before, as was my wont, I had watched the TV news. Such a depressing litany of human depravity and natural catastrophe. Theft. Murder. Road rage. Flooding Internet hacking. Exploitation. Earthquakes. More and more terrorist bombings and threats. Streams of refugees fleeing destruction and death. And through it all an election campaign
that makes one wonder whether sanity has abandoned our friends to the south—not that we in Canada would be much different if subjected to such a system.

BUT! The sunrise reminds us that beauty and goodness and purity still live on our darkened planet.

With the sunrise, I remember that Jesus Christ, the Lord is at work around the world. This sun of righteousness is continuing to shed his light through his redeemed children. Little points of reflected light are comforting the bereaved, healing the sick, encouraging the discouraged, sharing good news with the despairing. Establishing schools. Manning
hospitals. Running orphanages. Teaching literacy. Translating the Word of life. Gathering God’s new covenant children. Distributing relief. Sowing seeds of kindness and gentleness and godly purpose. Challenging cruelty.

The sunrise brings a new day. Those who stumbled yesterday, can rise today with hope. Those who sinned yesterday may find forgiveness today. There is wisdom for new challenges. There is strength for ongoing trials. There is love for the unlovely. There is a new batch of patience for those who blew it yesterday. There is release for the captives. There is deliverance for the addicted. Anything is possible!

God is the God of new days, of second chances, of grace and mercy and love. Believe it doubting soul!

 

 

How Surroundings Affect our Attitudes

Both Mary Helen and I try to walk every day for exercise. I use a chain saw to clear dead trees from our property. But both of us have found our activities severely limited due to arthritic knees and, in my case, a right shoulder problem that seems untreatable. To be candid, frustration and discouragement cloud the horizon. Our to-do-lists remain long.

One glance outside, however, lightens the mood. The grass is greening. The yellow faces of the daffodils smile at the sun. Everything is on tiptoe, ready to burst into bloom. Tulips and hyacinth. Maple, beech, ash and aspen. What seemed to be bare patches of dirt a week ago, now boast tiny tendrils of perennials I’d forgotten—delphinium, aster, foxglove, coneflower, fiesta flower, and hosta.

How can one be gloomy in the spring? It’s really quite amazing what a profound effect our surroundings have on our moods. Looking back, I can understand why many suffer from seasonal affective disorder during the winter. Not only is daylight reduced but the fields and forests seem drab and dead. What must it be like to live in a prison surrounded by concrete with no view of lawns or woods? And I often wonder how people endure living in ramshackle slums or even in concrete and glass high-rise buildings.

Surely, humans created to live in the Garden of Eden and destined, through faith in Christ, to end up in a garden in paradise, need gardens and parks to feel at home in this world. Every city development needs adequate and attractive parkland. I seriously wonder whether prisoners would be more likely rehabilitated if they had more exposure to the gentle influence of grass and flowers.

Our daughter, Debbie, had struggled for months with the debilitating effects of a concussion. During this time she prayed for the Lord to lift her spirits in some way. He sent her several pairs of cardinals. Intrigued at their gorgeous red plumage, she began to put out bird seed attracting other birds. She, who had never been a bird watcher, felt herself uplifted.

Not all have the opportunity to choose their surroundings. As many of God’s imprisoned and tortured saints have testified, God Himself can draw near in the ugliest of environments. “Lo I am with you always.” “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, thou art with me.” The unalloyed presence of God is enough.

And yet God created us with five senses so we could experience a sensual world. He created a plethora of flowers and butterflies, birds and fish, sea-shells and pebbles, rainbows and cloud formations to be enjoyed. Embracing the varied beauty of our world enables us to rise above our immediate pains and problems to soar in our spirits on wings of hope.

A Hope-so Spring?

Will winter never end? Will spring never come? Some years we hear this lament on every side. Years when storms continue through March and April. Years when May is cold and damp. Years when we wake up to frost in May.

So far, this year is different. The winter has been mild and the signs of spring have been all around from late February. Crocuses peeked up early. Everywhere there are the signs that tulips and daffodils will soon be in glorious bloom. Buds on the soft maples and poplars have swollen and burst into pendants of inconspicuous bloom. Robins have arrived. Geese wing their way north in honking V’s. And I’m itchy to plant seeds and rake the yard.

Instead of having to defer the hope of warmer weather week after week, as we have in other years, an early spring seems inevitable. Of course, when it comes to weather, anything can happen but our expectation of spring seems quite solid. After all, it does come every year.

Sometimes life, like cold, dreary weather seems hopeless. And unlike the spring, the outcome is far from certain. Year after year some pinch pennies without any expectation they will ever have enough extra to spend on a trip or even to pay bills. Others endure an endless bout of illness. Some struggle day after day with depression. Still others head out every day in search of a job with little hope of finding employment. Many suffer injustice or persecution without any hope of relief.

The Psalm writers echo our common human feelings of hopelessness in difficult circumstances. “My soul is in anguish. How long, O Lord” (Ps. 6:3)? “Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble” (Ps. 10:1). “Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning” (Ps. 22:1)? “My soul is downcast within me” (Ps. 42:6).

Despite these deep feelings of anguish, the authors of the various Psalms have hope. Their hope, like that of any genuine God-follower, is rooted in the character and sovereignty of God in whose capable hands, the future rests. In Psalm 13 after his lament, David writes, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation” (Ps. 13:5). In Psalms 42 & 43 the sons of Korah repeat one refrain three times as an encouragement to self-talk. “Why are you downcast…put your hope in God” (Ps. 42:5,11; 43:5). You can also check out Psalm 71.

Is biblical hope wishful thinking? One friend has a difficult time with the word hope. In his experience it means uncertainty, an “I-hope-so” kind of attitude. Not so, the biblical writers. “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Those with faith in the Christian verities have confidence that: God is, heaven exists, Christ died for our sins, all things work for the good of those who love God, and history is moving toward a climax during which time Christ will return. We are certain of these things. “These three remain: faith, hope and love” (1 Cor. 13:13).

That which astounds me repeatedly is the hopeful and cheerful outlook displayed by Christian believers in the most difficult of situations. Imprisoned and tortured believers in Iran and China, for example, show us the way through a minefield of doubt and discouragement. May Christian hope transform each of our days.