At the beginning of this month, I was really struggling with focusing too much on the hopelessness of some situations around me instead of on the true Hope. During this time I asked God questions like, how can this possibly work out for the good, how could you use these situations, or even me in these situations? God’s response was one that encouraged me and filled me with such hope I thought I would share it with you all.
As soon as I asked the question God brought me first to the story of Abraham and Sarah; Sarah had waited her whole life, enduring the shame and the stigma of not being able to have children. She passed up her child bearing years and then out of desperation even tried to fix her problem without God by giving her servant to Abraham, but that didn’t work, it was hopeless. Then in the middle of that hopelessness God brought hope and she had a baby boy and not just any boy, but a boy that would be a nation.
The next story that God brought me to was that of a prostitute named Rahab, in scripture she wasn’t just referred to as A prostitute she was said to be THE prostitute of Jericho. I could not imagine a more hopeless and degrading position to be in, but after protecting two spies and being spared from the destruction of her city, she became a part of God’s people. She was no longer known as the prostitute, but as a wife and mother, and one of the few women that were listed in the genealogy of Jesus.
After that story I was reminded of the story of Naomi, who because of famine she and her husband had to leave their homeland but while they were in the foreign land her husband and both of her sons died. So after the famine was over she decided to return home, she told her daughters-in-law to not follow her because her situation was hopeless, but Ruth told her she would follow her anyway. So they went together, but Naomi went back home defeated, hopeless, and bitter. In this place though God brought her daughter-in-law Ruth and Boaz, together and blessed Naomi with a grandson, who would be in the lineage of King David and Jesus.
Finally I was reminded of the people of Israel, who had been sold as slaves in a foreign land and who were waiting for a Savior, but after over 400 years of hearing nothing from God, hope seemed very far from them. However, in the midst of this darkness and silence their Savior, their Hope, came. He didn’t come in a way they expected and He didn’t even save them in the way they thought He would, but He did so more completely than they could have imagined. Our hope even came after the darkness moment in history, after our Savior was killed, He was dead for three days. Utter hopelessness had set in when our Hope defeated death, and showed us that out of the darkness He brings light, out of “impossible” situations, miracles take place. So in the end there is no such thing as hopelessness when Christ is our Hope.
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed...” Romans 4:18a
