This Hope: An Anchor for Our Souls

Stories abound of boats that survive hurricanes – even when the same storm strips every tree of their leaves and branches, even when buildings are leveled and living creatures perish. The common difference maker between a sunken ship and one that stays afloat? The anchor. 

When a storm comes barrelling toward her boat, the skipper will drop an anchor from the bow (front), securing it to the solid ground below.1 Pointing toward the wind, the boat won’t capsize. The anchor keeps the boat from getting shoved into the land or sucked out to sea.

Years ago, when we were boaters, our seagreen ski boat could usually outrun storms, so I’m not sure how we would’ve fared if we’d had to ride one out. But we did learn the value of a good anchor, and that lesson came on a sunny day when the lake looked like a sea of glass.

We pulled within several yards of land to jump-in for a refreshing swim. I don’t recall if we made the decision not to anchor or just forgot because of the lake’s deceptive calm. Anchorless, however, we put ourselves in danger. Distracted by our own splashes, we failed to notice the boat creeping inland, trapping us between it and the shore until it loomed over us and bumped into us. Thankfully, a nimble, quick-minded someone climbed aboard and got that boat back out to safer depths. Then. Then, we anchored.

I think about how our boating incident mirrors our lives – how when we feel like we’re floating along just fine in life, we can get caught unaware, trapped and even sucked under by a storm that has blown up out of nowhere.

The lesson? Hold onto Christ every single day of this life on earth. Stormy or calm seas, hang onto the person and promises of Jesus.

Our Anchor 

The writer of Hebrews wants us to understand just how much we can count on God’s promises to hold firm, to always bring us through every tempest. The author points us toward Abraham’s reality – no matter what problems arose, no matter how long it took, Abraham clung to the covenant God made with him. He anchored himself to the promise that he would be the father of a great nation despite being childless (Hebrews 6:11-15). He held firm even when waves of doubt tried to drown him and winds of distrust tried to break his grip.

Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash

Paul spoke of Abraham in the same way, saying “he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised” (Romans 4:20-21). Abraham’s faith in God’s promises held him steady through every season, storm, and surprise.

These New Testament writers offer to us the imperfect Abraham as the one to imitate. He may not have made the healthiest choices all the time, but when it counted most, Abraham trusted God. He clung to faith even when he couldn’t see how the outcome God promised could be realized. 

JD Walt helps his modern readers contrast Abraham’s brand of belief with our world’s anecdote: 

“Positive thinking ties our faith to some preconceived and hoped for outcome. Faith, on the other hand, does not seek a particular outcome, but rather anchors all hope in God alone and the surety of His promises.”

JD Walt, The Daily Text, Nov 10, 2018

Positive thinking is putting our hope in ourselves, others, or circumstances. It’s living life anchorless yet counting on things beyond our control to hold us steady.

I’ve been learning this specific lesson in recent months. My form of “positive thinking” looks like planning. The minute life throws a curveball, my automatic response is to kick into planner-mode. My thoughts spiral with every possible scenario so I can plan for each outcome. Each imagining raises my stress. Each plan seeks to lower the stress, giving me the false illusion of control. In other words, I trick myself into thinking “I’ve got this.” And all the while, the boat is pushing me toward the shore where rocks hungrily await my approach.

This way of reacting to life is so habitual that the other night I woke up from an awful dream with tears in my eyes. The dream felt so real, that before I could fully awaken, my mind began planning where I would go in the face of such a loss. Later that morning, I took all the feelings, all the plans to God and eventually laughed out loud as I saw how ingrained this tendency is in me. And God nodded a silent, “I told you so.” Now we’re working together on changing this response in me. He’s teaching me how to put my hope in Him and His promises instead of my plans.

Positive thinking has very little actual power to change situations or to give us what we hope for. But, guess who does? Our Promise-Keeper. Our Anchor.

A Thing With Feathers

We’ve been learning that this hope is not a wish for something we don’t really think will happen. It’s not thinking the best of a situation so that it’ll magically work out the way we want. It’s not even tossing our fears thoughtlessly in the wind, hoping God will fix everything. For all our searching, it may still be hard to put into words just what this hope is. 

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –
And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm –
I’ve heard it in the chillest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.2 

Emily Dickinson

In her own poetic way, Emily uses metaphor to compare this hope to a bird: 

This hope gets in our soul – it sings truth and keeps us warm.
This hope perseveres – it never stops, never lets go…even in the storm.
This hope remains with us – without ever asking anything of us except to trust.

Why? Because this hope is a person. It’s His good will for us. It’s our trusting His promises. It’s us releasing our plans so that this hope becomes our anchor. Thus moored, we become immovable in our faith and unsinkable in our determination to remain in Christ.

Photo by Matthew Wheeler on Unsplash

Friends, we don’t need to float through our days here on earth, allowing the winds and currents to take us where they please. We don’t need to create our own anchors in attempts to wait out the storms of life. And we don’t want to get caught off guard by a sneaky storm – because we have the strongest anchor ever. When we attach ourselves to our Solid Rock, we’re aligning our hearts and minds with His. We are trusting that He will not only get us through the storm but that He’ll be the One to lead us where we need to go. We are believing that God’s promises will never fail to hold because He has the power to outlast and overcome every storm. 

So, whether we find ourselves battered by gale-force winds, watchful of darkening clouds building on the horizon, or content in our current calm season, we can trust that this hope is an anchor for our souls every single day of our lives (Hebrews 6:19). 

Father God, hope against hope, Abraham believed You. He trusted You’d keep your word. And we want to do the same, running to You for refuge with confidence because we hold to the hope that lies before us. In faith, we trust that You are the only One in all the universe with the power to bring all your promises into reality. That You are the only One who can help us navigate life without drifting off course. Lord Jesus, You demonstrated your power over storms when You spoke a word, and the wind and rain stopped. We pray our faith will believe that same power can speak into our storms. Help us build a trust in You – that whether You stop the storm or bring us through it, your power and goodness are the same. We’re so grateful for your promises to be with us when we pass through the waters and to keep the rivers from sweeping over us. May these assurances be an anchor for our souls. Holy Spirit, we confess how easily we launch out in our own strength, with our own plans, only to be swamped by the raging seas of life. So, we ask You to be our constant reminder to anchor ourselves to Christ. We ask that You would speak over us the truth of all God’s promises and the power of putting our hope in them. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Romans 4:18;  Hebrews 6:18, 19; Matthew 8:24-27; Isaiah 43:2; John 16:13)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – To drop an anchor in this situation, the boat would have to be in a harbor or near the shore. There are, however, “sea anchors” that are used while out on the open seas. These parachute-looking anchors are thrown out behind the boat so that the wind catches the pocket, creating drag, acting as a brake. The effect is similar.
  • 2 – Emily Dickinson’s poem is in the public domain and can be found here.
  • Our “This Hope” playlist has a song by Hillsong called “Anchor.” Its lyrics capture SO MUCH of what God is trying to open our hearts and minds to in this series about suffering and this hope — about how He and His promises are the anchor for our souls.

    There is hope in the promise of the cross
    You gave everything to save the world You love
    And this hope is an anchor for my soul
    Our God will stand unshakeable

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
    • This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Hebrews 6:13-20. I personally love the NLT version, but you land on what feels best to you. I’d love to hear how your time in these verses establishes a faith in you to hold onto this hope that is an anchor to your soul.
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world! 

Featured Photo by Frans Ruiter on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
 

This Hope: Power in His Promises

As I continue to wrestle with the way suffering builds our hope and how hope can help us endure, I keep visualizing this 80s poster:

While this frisky feline holds little hope of getting down without some help, he does have some claws to aid in his hanging on. We, however, lack retractable nails – but we actually have something better! For those moments and seasons when we need to hang in there, we have God’s promises.

Light and Life

In the beginning God created…everything! He brought forth light from darkness by speaking a word. He put the sun, moon, and stars in the heavens and separated the water from the land on earth. He fashioned animals, like cute kittens, and trees, like the one to which the kitten clings. And He made us! In all, God creates light and lots of life!

The poetry of John 1 shows how the rhythms and ideas of Creation are also the story of Christ:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.”

John 1:1-4

Christ is life, but it’s more than our physical, bodily function – it’s also “the hope for living each day. It’s waking up with joyful possibility. It’s holding on, knowing that better days are coming.”1 We are learning that God is our source of hope, and in Christ we see how the life we are given is meant to be more than drudgery and despair, more than mere survival. In Christ we’re meant to flourish. Even as we walk through the low places, there’s more to life than fading into the darkness. 

But, it’s not all on us. Let’s keep pulling that refrain from Isaiah back into the foreground, “Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength” (40:31). The image Scripture continually gives us is that of yoking ourselves to the One who can help carry the load (Matthew 11:28-30) – it’s not struggling through life on our own.

Perhaps the most misquoted verse in all of Scripture is 1 Corinthians 10:13. We hear too often that “God won’t give us more than we can carry,” yet we feel the opposite of that on our worst days. Which only makes us wonder about God, right? But the truth in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is not about the heaviness of life – it’s about how God will not let us be tempted beyond what we can bear. 

(Crazy side note: check out how that verse ends: “But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.” Even in temptation, God helps us endure so we won’t give up!!!!).

So. Nowhere in Scripture does it say God won’t give us more than we can handle. Life is hard! And as we’ve seen in the last few weeks, Scripture agrees: Jesus warns us life will have troubles (John 16:33). Peter tells us life will have suffering (1 Peter). Paul assumes there will be pain because we are followers of the One who suffered and died (Philippians 1:29). Friends, we need to step out of the disappointment we have for God when it appears He keeps giving us way more than we can handle and, instead, pick up the truth. He is with us. He will help us.

With our Source of Hope, we can grab hold of the promises of light and life that say Jesus extends life to the weary and offers Himself, the Light of the World, to be our ray of hope in the darkest places.

Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash

Promise Keeper

We can trace all sorts of promises God has made throughout Scripture – like He will strengthen and help us (Isaiah 41:10); or His grace is sufficient for us (2 Corinthians 12:9); or when we confess our sin, He is faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9). So. Many. Promises. But, here’s the kicker, God has never, nor will He ever, break a promise. Joshua says, “Not one of all the Lord’s good promises to Israel failed; every one was fulfilled” (21:45). 

And, beyond the promises made to Israel, God also kept every promise about extending saving grace to all the world through a Savior (Psalm 67; Isaiah 9). There are well over 300 prophecies about the coming Messiah throughout the Old Testament, and Jesus fulfills every single one of them. 

Hear this: Jesus is God’s ultimate kept-promise.

It is through the sending of His one-of-a-kind Son that God proves His love for us and His trustworthiness: “This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him” (1 John 4:9 CEB). That revelation of God’s love comes by way of light,2 and it keeps the promise made to Abraham when the covenant was cut all those years ago (Genesis 17:3-5).

If we need any proof that God is ”Promise Keeper,” we need to look no further than Jesus.

Friend, in our sorrows and our sufferings, “Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise” (Hebrews 10:23 NLT). Just as He kept His promise to usher in a way to save all nations, all people, He will keep His promises to you. 

Preserving Life

And, one of the biggest promises is life!
Remember your word to your servant,
    for you have given me hope.
My comfort in my suffering is this:
    Your promise preserves my life.

Psalm 119:49-50 NIV, emphasis mine

Whoever is the author of this Psalm, they seem to grasp the correlations we’ve been making. As they connect the dots from “word” to “hope” to “suffering” to “promise” to “life,” they demonstrate how God’s Word gives hope – how when we suffer then recall the promises found in the Word, we are revived.3  All our weariness of body, heart, mind, and spirit are brought to life. 

Photo by Miriam G on Unsplash

As we read (in the previous section) in 1 John 4:9, “that we can live through” Christ, John’s talk of living can mean eternal life, but the Greek here actually refers to life right now. This life is a gift from God, and we’re meant to live it emphatically and with joy because it is active, blessed, and endless!4 

God’s Word gives life…and, we’ve made the full circle. John 1, Jesus the Word made flesh (v.14). In Him we have everything we need. In Him we have what Sarah Wanck calls the function of life – breath in our bodies. But she reminds us that we also have “the fullness of formation in Him that gives our life meaning.”1 Not only is Jesus everywhere, but He’s our everything:

“And the life that is found in Him is our hope for today and the light of the world. Our hope, our everything is found in the One who has always been.”

Sarah Wanck

Friends, I know we each struggle – whether it’s for breath or bread or better days – but God promises to be with us. He promises to go through every dark valley with us (Psalm 23:4). And His presence changes everything – it gives us this hope because of His Word; it revives us back to life because of His light; it empowers us to keep hanging in there because of His promises.

God will keep His promises. Somehow, some way God will make a way.

We’ll give commentator Matthew Henry the final word today, “Those that make God’s promises their portion, may with humble boldness make them their plea.”5

Father God, You are Promise Keeper, Way Maker. In You there is no falseness, no failure to keep your word. Forgive us when we fall to the temptation of blaming You for all our struggles. Forgive us when we doubt your goodness and your perfect promises. We desire to live life to its fullest because You have given us this life and You have promised to go with us throughout it. Thank You for giving us your Word as our hope! Lord Jesus, You are the Light of the World, a light for our dark places and a light to be shared. You were there at Creation and spoke us into being. Then You gave your life so that we can live with You in eternity AND in the here and now full of hope and joy. You see us, so You know the weight of our burdens, the depths of our sorrows, and the way darkness tempts us to doubt and give up. You source our hope so that in this hard life we can live and move and have our being. Thank You for your life and light! Holy Spirit, You are the breath of life, the spirit that fills our lungs. And You dwell in us as One who reminds us of all Jesus has spoken – all the promises He has made – so that we will claim them as our own. Thank You for all the ways You’ve helped us hang on. Oh, please, help us to keep hanging on! Today we make God’s promises our portion and in humble boldness we make them our plea. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Hebrews 10:23; Numbers 23:19; 1 John 1:9, 4:9; Deuteronomy 31:8; Psalm 119:49-50; John 8:12; Matthew 5:14-16; John 1:1-4; John 3:16; Matthew 11:28-30; Acts 17:24-28; Job 27:3; 1 Corinthians 3:16; John 14:26; Matthew Henry)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – Wake Up Call, Sarah Wanck’s Advent opener on 12/1/22, “New Beginnings“
  • 2 – Greek for “revealed to us,” phaneroo, is derived from phaino, which means “to give light and become visible;” it is derived from phos, which means “light” – literally, “was brought to light” and so conveys the sense that God’s love (by itself not clearly visible) was made clearly visible. Got this from BibleHub.com.
    • (I get a little geeky over all this – the dots just keep connecting.)
  • 3 – The literal translation of “preserves my life” from the Greek word, ḥî·yā·ṯə·nî, is to revive back to life.
  • 4 – Greek for “live through him” is zaó, meaning “to live, experience God’s gift of life. Specifically in this verse, “emphatically, and in the Messianic sense, to enjoy real life, i. e. to have true life and worthy of the name — active, blessed, endless in the kingdom of God …by the gift and power of Christ it is shared in by the faithful.” (also from BibleHub.com)
  • 5 – Matthew Henry’s thoughts on Psalm 119:50 as found on BibleHub.com
  • On our “This Hope” playlist, we have a new song! “I Stand in Awe” by Chris Tomlin and Nicole Serrano – the perfect lyrics to flow from our lips as we consider all these truths about God:

    When I consider what You have made
    The mighty oceans, the fiery stars
    The fields and forests give You praise
    My Lord, my God
    I stand in awe of You

    When I consider what You have done
    I see Your suffering, I see Your scars
    Oh, the wonder, oh, the love
    My Lord (my Lord)
    My God (my God)
    I stand in awe of You
    I stand in awe!

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • As we put our rhythm of meditation into practice, let’s recall that eastern meditation seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, but Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive.
    • This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Psalm 119:49-50. Take your time, giving the Spirit space to speak, prompt, and lead. Read less for information and more for inspiration — to the point of looking for what you can discover about who God is (rather than what He can do for you).
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Bogdan Cotos on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit. 

This Hope: Our Endurance

When news of another friend’s loss reaches me, my heart lurches. It aches for the person who now lives without their loved one, who must abandon dreams and change life plans. Then I wonder to God, “How will they ever get through such grief? …How would I?”

It makes me think of a story Beth Moore told years ago about a friend who lost a child. Beth took the same questions to God, asking how do we endure such loss? And God reminded her of the manna that fell each morning for forty years in the wilderness. God sent the Israelites all the manna they would need each day – and grace works the same way. In seasons when we are plodding through pain, God supplies extra grace – enough grace to endure. Enough grace to hope for a day when such anguish no longer exists.

Sometimes, knowing that our suffering matters1 does not seem like enough to push us through, to give us what we need to keep hoping and enduring. And that’s when we have to accept the truth – we cannot produce the will to persevere. Paul David Tripp says our “hope of enduring is not to be found in our character or strength.” Rather, we have to look beyond ourselves to the One who always endures.2 God never grows weak; He is always strong (Isaiah 40:28). He never gives up; He always perseveres (Psalm 62:5-6). In other words, the “God of Endurance” is our source of hope (Romans 5:5 CEB, 5:13 NLT)! And He has given us two valuable assets to help us hang-on in the midst of our misery – the Scriptures and the Spirit (Romans 15:4,13).   

Scriptures of Encouragement

In his first letter, Peter talks a lot about suffering because the audience he wrote to suffered greatly under Nero’s persecution in Rome. He set out to encourage the distressed followers of Christ who had begun to think God had abandoned them.3 And isn’t that what suffering tempts us to do? Doubt. God’s. Presence.

Throughout his letter, Peter’s words are timeless, encouraging everyone to endure the brokenness of the world. But he also speaks truth over our tendency to think we’re alone in our struggles – to believe that no one could ever feel as we do:

“Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you.”

1 Peter 4:12 NIV (the 1984 version)

The Good News Translation really pegs it, “as though something unusual were happening to you.” 

It’s one thing to say that suffering is universal; it’s another thing altogether to remember that truth when we are in the middle of the mess. But what Peter wants all believers to grab hold of is that these hard times – the pain, the grief, the exhaustion – they’re not unique to any of us. They really are to be expected – especially by believers. And, that is meant to be encouraging. 

Like the time we took one of our sons for counseling during his turbulent middle school years. I was just sure we had a unique situation that would be unsolvable, not overcomable – and those fears caused me great distress. As though she knew what I was thinking, the counselor pulled me aside after one session and said, “He’s a normal teenage boy. You will get through this.”

Her words poured such relief into my mom-heart. There was hope in knowing we weren’t experiencing anything new. It helped me endure those years with faith that God would continue to equip us with people like this counselor and encourage us with the truth that our struggles are not singular.

Photo by Vonecia Carswell on Unsplash

Another thing Peter’s letter accomplishes is reframing the trials of this young church. 

First, he promised the trials would not last forever (1 Peter 1:6). Then, he wanted them to know these ordeals would not leave them empty and faithless; rather, they would actually show their faith as genuine (1 Peter 1:7a). In other words God would use the troubles to test and, ultimately, strengthen their faith. Finally, he gave them the promise that there would be rewards for such endurance:

“When your faith remains strong through many trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

1 Peter 1:7b

Like Peter’s letter, all of Scripture is filled with stories and promises, which are included within its pages for the purpose of encouraging God’s people! We can scour the Old Testament to find suffering in abundance. The Israelites’ suffering as slaves in Egypt and Moses’ struggle to get them to the Promised Land show us that with God we can make it (Exodus). The way Job endures his great pain and grief can encourage us to trust God in the same way (Job). Jeremiah is but one prophet called to persevere through great persecution, and he is one who suffered inwardly, as well, as he watched God’s people choose faithlessness over and over. Yet his faith only grew stronger (Jeremiah). The Israelites suffered even as they were allowed to return to Jerusalem after seventy years of exile, but they overcame the obstacles by believing in God’s Word (Ezra/Nehemiah).

And, of course, the New Testament’s four Gospels chronicle the struggles of Jesus and His disciples. From rejection to betrayal to grief, these faithful followers were not immune to suffering. Quite the contrary, Jesus actually tells them to expect trouble – not only because the world is full of it but because they follow Him (John 16:33). However, His very next words, “I have overcome the world,” impart the hope we all need to keep plugging away. 

Jesus, our hope, will get us through. In His Word we find promises that help us persevere.

Spirit of Help and Hope

On the night of His arrest, Jesus breaks all kinds of news to His disciples as they share the Last Supper – He’ll be “going away” but “will be back soon” (14:28); “the prince of this world is coming” but “he has no hold over” Jesus (14:30). Underlying all of this is the news that when He is gone, the Father will send the Holy Spirit (14:16-17,25-26). 

Jesus knows that His followers will need someone to continue to speak truth over them and to advocate for them (14:16-17,26). Four times in this one speech (14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7), Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the Helper, the paraklétos – the one to come alongside to advocate and intercede, to comfort and console.

In other words, the Holy Spirit has been given to us – to each and every follower of Christ – as our Helper, the One to come alongside us and continue the work Jesus began.

Friends, when we make the decision to follow Jesus, we are brought into communion with Him – with the Holy Trinity. And it is in that very place of belonging where we find the strength to endure whatever life throws at us. We are never alone! 

The giving of the Spirit was a calculated decision, part of the plan, and is the gift of having Jesus with us every single day. And therein lies our hope – which is why Paul would include a prayer about the power of the Holy Spirit in the conclusion of his passage on persevering through trials:

“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.”

Romans 5:13 NIV

The Spirit who is our helper is also our hope!

So, as you go about your day – your life – remember Jesus is always, always, always with you because the Spirit is in you. 

  • With the Spirit, you always have a helper. 
  • With the Scriptures, you always have encouragement. 
  • With the pair, you always have what you need to endure the trials that lay like a heavy burden on your shoulders. 

You don’t have to feel the added pressure of coming up with the strength and resolve to “just keep swimming.”4 Instead, you can bear your soul to the One who has come alongside you and trust in the fact that His grace will always be enough. Then, the God of Endurance will be your source of hope.

Friend, because of Jesus, this hope is our endurance. You are going to make it! 

Heavenly Father, our God of Endurance, You never grow tired. Your resolve never waivers. Your strength never fails. And You offer ALL of this to us. You give us rest; You align our wills with yours; and You empower us to endure. So, on this day, we choose to put our hope in You, and we thank You that You renew our strength. Lord Jesus, we are so grateful for the words that You spoke over your disciples on that last night, leaving them as an offering for us today. We desire to be encouraged by your Word, so we ask that You would lead us to the just right passages at the just right moments. And we vow to take those words as truth, clinging to them as lifelines. Holy Spirit, our Helper, thank You for coming alongside us on this journey of persevering and enduring all the trials this life gives. Our faith grows as we put our trust in the fact that You are always with us ready to help us at any moment, at any time. We claim Paul’s prayer as our own, asking that, as our Source of Hope and by your power, You would fill us with peace and joy each time we trust You so that we will overflow with hope! In Jesus’ name, amen.
(inspired by Romans 15:5,13; Isaiah 40:28,31; Matthew 11:28; Luke 22:42; 2 Peter 1:3; Psalm 119:160; John 14:16,26; Romans 15:13)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – a reference to last week’s blog post
  • 2 – taken from the January 12th devotion in Paul David Tripp’s book, New Morning Mercies^ (many thanks to my friend, Susan, for sharing!)
  • 3 – Women of Faith Study Bible, p.2021
  • 4 – Dory quote from Finding Nemo (hahaha)
  • Did you see my Bonus Post? A few days ago, I wrote an extra, unplanned post about a type of prayer called a lament. If you’re not familiar with lament, read on — because this kind of prayer becomes a vehicle for speaking our truest thoughts and feelings to God with hope. We can get as honest as we want with the God we worship because He’s big enough to handle it and good enough to allow our honesty to shape us for the better.
  • For the curious — here’s an article that further unpacks how the Holy Spirit encourages us, including a great story that illustrates the “coming alongside” idea of paraklétos.
  • Taken from the Bible Study Tools website, here is list of verses to turn to in hard times:
    • Psalm 9:9 – “The Lord is a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble.”
    • Philippians 4:19 – “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
    • Psalm 32:7-8 – God is a hiding place. He provides the shelter no one else can.
    • 1 Peter 5:7 – God asks us to give Him everything about which we are anxious, because He cares for us.
    • Romans 8:18 – We can get through anything here in this life because we have glory ahead of us. 
    • 1 Peter 1:6-7 – Our faith is tested so we can grow in Christ and praise Him all the more as He is revealed.
    • Joshua 1:9 – God is always with us, so we are to be strong and courageous. 
    • Philippians 4:19 – God will meet all our needs (remember, He is talking needs, not wants).
    • Romans 8:28 – A very familiar verse to many about how God makes everything work for good for those He has called and who love Him.
    • 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – This passage was written by Paul, who, as we saw, went through some serious hard times. And through it all he kept his faith. In it he says, “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.”
  • Our “This Hope” playlist holds so many great songs that are packed with all the truths in this series. When we are in hard seasons, we need encouragement to endure — and songs like these (because they’re saturated with Scripture and inspired by the Spirit) can go a long way to lifting our spirits, readjusting our eyes onto Jesus, and singing the Word over us when we can’t read it for ourselves.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • This spring we’re leaning into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
    • This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Romans 15:13. One verse SO FULL of all the things we long for — joy, peace, trust, and hope!!! Truly, take your time. Come back to it again and again. Sometimes it can be fun to read a verse in multiple translations; however, this verse must be pretty straight forward — they’re all nearly the same. But, here are a few that incorporate a little variety:
      • Aramaic Bible in Plain English — But The God of hope shall fill you with all joy and peace by faith, that you shall superabound in his hope by the power of The Spirit of Holiness.
      • Weymouth New Testament — May God, the giver of hope, fill you with continual joy and peace because you trust in Him–so that you may have abundant hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
      • Good News Translation — May God, the source of hope, fill you with all joy and peace by means of your faith in him, so that your hope will continue to grow by the power of the Holy Spirit.
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light of His hope into the world! 

Featured Photo by Jaco Pretorius on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit. 

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BONUS POST: Lament

Welcome to a bonus post! As we wrestle with hope’s role in our suffering, we need to consider how to express our truest feelings to God when we’re at our lowest.

For the vast majority of us, when we hurt, we resist – we hold back on naming what we feel for fear of the pain swallowing us whole. We live in a culture that only wants to see our best – our best smiles, our best creations, our best lives, so for too long we’ve lived under the illusion that if we fake it, we’ll make it. But the truth is we ALL suffer. And, as science and psychology will tell us, if we name and own how we feel, the grip of pain will lessen.1 Believe it or not, Scripture has been telling us this all along –

Job doesn’t try to hide behind his grief when all has been lost. Instead, he speaks honestly, “Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil” (Job 3:23-26 NIV).

David models for us throughout the Psalms how to speak what we feel: “Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint; heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in deep anguish. How long, Lord, how long?” (Psalm 6:2-4 NIV).

Discouraged prophets like Jeremiah and Habakkuk pepper God with their questions and appeals: “Why is my pain continuous, my wound incurable?” (Jeremiah 15:18); “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” (Habakkuk 1:2 NIV}.

In the New Testament, afflicted people consistently cry out to Jesus for help – like Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, who shouts out, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” (Mark 10:47).

In His overwhelm, Jesus calls out to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane as His sweat turns to blood, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me” (Luke 22:41-44). Agonizing on the cross, Jesus wails the words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46).

On each occasion, these men do not hide their true feelings, hedge their questions, or act like all is well. Rather, they get honest – with themselves and with God. And, to a person they find help and strength in the One they cry out to. But, it always starts with naming emotions and owning the reality of their suffering.

Songs of Hope

There’s actually a name for prayers that sob, scream, and shout to God with gut-wrenching honesty – laments. Not all meltdowns are laments. And neither are all prayers. JD Walt helps us understand that for a prayer to qualify as a lament, it has to be “framed in the larger context of hope” because, by definition, a “lament is human sadness and longing lifted to God. Absent the presence of God and ultimate hope, we cannot lament; we can only despair.”2

I’d love for us to sit with that a minute: Without God and hope, we only despair. It makes me wonder how many of our prayers are really statements of despair, spoken as though we’ve given up on the situation – with no real hope for things to change. So how do we make the shift in our hearts and minds? How do we learn to lament?

First, it helps to know that laments are songs of hope that pour out from an open heart, searching for the Father’s help. This prayerful response becomes the hinge for hope which is why the lament is a needed part of every believer’s rhythms and routines. And why Timothy Tennent describes the followers of Jesus as “people of hope” who can “look to the future and know with confidence that God is in control and he will someday set all things right.”3 

Photo by Hanna Morris on Unsplash

While we may not be familiar with the use of laments, God provides some great templates for us. Over one-third of the Psalms are laments!4 We’ve been given easy access to a library of laments to pour over, not only giving us permission to put this into practice but providing words for us to use.

As we begin to familiarize ourselves with this unique form of prayer, we will notice that most laments contain four elements, in which the author of the lament:5

  1. Directs her complaint to God: “O Lord, how many are my foes!” (Psalm 3).
  2. Describes her suffering, “My tears have been my food, day and night” (Psalm 42).
  3. Depends on God to come to her aid: “Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself!” (Psalm 44).
  4. Dwells on God’s faithfulness and goodness: “But I have trusted in your steadfast love” (Psalm 13).

Biblical laments demonstrate that the order of these elements does not matter, nor does equal representation. What I have always loved about these special Psalms is that no matter how dire the situation, the writer always comes back to faith, to hope.

Hope Is a Song

As with any other unfamiliar skill on the planet, the only way we’ll get better at tapping into our emotions and asking God for help with hope is to practice! Let’s use Psalm 13 to speak aloud our very own anguish. You can simply read the words and make them your prayer, or you can take what’s given and modify the words to fit your specific situation:

1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
    and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
    How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
    Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
    and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
    my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
    for he has been good to me.

Psalm 13 NIV

Sometimes it helps to use various translations or even a paraphrase to get the heart of what is being said. Psalm 13 in The Message is a great one to try.

The Psalms are rich,6 and they have much to teach us about this practice of lament, so they can be our song book. But they can also be a springboard, launching us into our own laments.

Remember, a lament isn’t just grumbling – it’s describing our pain/suffering directly to God in hope so that we depend on Him and dwell on His faithfulness and goodness (our reason for hope). So, as you work your way through the laments found in the Psalms, make it a habit to see how each psalmist weaves these elements throughout their prayer so that you can do the same in yours. 

Friends, suffering is inescapable, but we have a Savior who makes Himself available to us. He wants to hear us. He longs to heal us. He desires to be our hope. So, cry out to Him with the holy expectancy that He will!

“Hope is a song sung when everything else says you shouldn’t be singing. Hope is joy. Hope is a testimony that says ‘even if it doesn’t come true, I will live like it might.’ Hope is what helps us survive. Hope is little light.”

Pádraig Ó Tuama, In The Shelter page 178

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – “Science Behind Why Naming Our Feelings Makes Us Happier” article
  • 2 – JD Walt, Feb 25, Soundtrack
  • 3 – May 28, Timothy Tennent, Asbury Seminary’s president,
  • 4 – Here’s a list of the laments in Psalms – it’s a compilation from several lists and not perfect nor complete, but it is a great start. I’ve done my best to split up the individual laments from the communal/corporate laments:
  • The psalms of “individual complaint” are: Psalm 3–7, 10, 13, 17, 22, 25-28, 31, 32, 38, 39, 42, 43, 51, 54-57, 59, 61, 63, 64, 69–71, 77, 86, 88, 94, 102, 109, 120, 130, and 140-43.
  • The psalms of “communal complaint” are: 12, 44, 60, 74, 79, 80, 83, 85, and 89-90.
  • 5 – “The Art of Lament” article by Gospel Coalition
  • 6 – I think you’ll be amazed at how specific some of the Psalms are – some are about illness (Psalm 6), slander (Psalm 35), deception (Psalm 55–especially v.21), doubt (Psalm 71), stress (Psalm 102–especially vv.1-12), grief (Psalms 13, 77), discouragement (Psalm 143), when life beats us up (Psalms 88), when we feel abandoned (Psalm 38), when we’re tempted toward comparison (Psalm 73). 
  • Our “This Hope” playlist has some good laments.
    • Not on our playlist, but Cory Asbury’s song “Unraveling” is an example of a modern lament.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • Remember this week we are meditating (or ruminating) on Romans 5:1-11 CSB. But, if one of the laments is capturing the words of your soul, please go with it!
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Mohd Zuber saifi on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit. 

This Hope: Suffering Matters

Despite the naive assumption of my twenty-something self – when I believed I could pray, work, or obey enough to avoid the hard paths – suffering is universal. There’s not one thing we can do to evade it. But I have certainly given it my best shot. 😉

During Lent, I took part in a study called In the Wild by Dan Wilt.1 Slowly, day by day, line by line, Dan walked us through the three temptations of Christ during His forty days in the wilderness (Luke 4:5-8). Simultaneously, I re-watched The Chosen and completed a months-long study of Exodus. Immersed and saturated in such a way, this Lent I felt Jesus’ suffering like never before – maybe because of my new awareness that His painful struggles began long before the cross (like the betrayal of friends, rejection of His hometown, or animosity from His own people).

Dan points out that during the second temptation of Christ, Satan takes Jesus up to the highest point in Jerusalem and shows Him the kingdoms of the world, offering to give Him all their authority and splendor (Luke 4:6). But beyond power and influence, a more appealing offer underlying this temptation is to skip the suffering that is to come.1 

(Skip the suffering? Um, yes please.)

Yet in full knowledge of the cross and the suffering required of Him, Jesus quickly and adamantly declines, choosing to remain faithful to His Father in heaven (v.8) – and to the strategy they had laid out to redeem the world back to God.

Suffering was always part of God’s “Great Rescue Plan.”2 It always included torture and death on a cross. That’s why Isaiah called Messiah the Suffering Servant (Isaiah 53). In other words, Jesus knew. At some point in his human life, the Rescue Plan settled into His mind with clarity. Every word He spoke, every miracle He performed, and every challenge He posed led to the cross – intentionally.

I’ve sat in this truth for a few weeks now, and one of the outflows of such soaking is the humble acceptance that if Christ came to suffer, who am I to try to avoid it?

Even bigger is my realization that Jesus’ pain – of heart, mind, spirit, and body – had purpose.

Friend, I know you suffer. You might be tempted to deny it or compare it or despair in it, but there are truths, like lifelines, that each of us can grab hold of. Even though hardship is part of life in this broken world, God will always remain with us in our suffering, and our pain will always have purpose.

Promise of Presence

Years ago, dark days of betrayal and the grief of lost love tempted me toward despair. The lies of the enemy tortured me with ideas like: “this will never get better;” “you’ll never be loved again;” or “this is what you get.” I remember lying on my bed, giving in to the darkness. And for the first time in my life I realized how people could be tempted to take their own lives. Jolted back into reality, I reached for my dusty Bible. 

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

And as I opened it, a scrap of paper with “Isaiah 41:10” penned on it fluttered to the floor, so I turned to that page and read that God strengthens, helps, and holds me in His victorious right hand. That day I’d been desperate, but the ache turned me back to the God of my younger days. That piece of paper with the perfect passage became my beacon of hope. 

Isaiah’s words held promise. They didn’t fix the situation or even mend my heart in the moment. But, they gave me hope that my crappy circumstances would one day get better, and that I could get through it all because God would go with me.

Since the days of Moses and Joshua, God has been promising to never leave us, to never forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6). Jesus reiterates the same pledge, “I am with you always, till the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). 

So, as we surrender to the anguish that comes with suffering, we can allow our faith in our Father’s presence to set aflame our hope. We are not alone! We are seen, and our Lord has compassion because, as the word means, He suffers with us.

Promise of Purpose

Jesus knows suffering. He chose it. And, the writer of Hebrews would say He endured it because of the joy that would come after it – the joy of defeating sin and death, the joy of redeeming us back to Himself (12:2). In other words, each time He was tempted to give in to the dread of dying the shameful, excruciating death of the cross or to call down those legions of angels to rescue Him (Matthew 26:53), He trusted the plan. He believed that the purpose would be worth it.

Jesus models for us what it looks like to allow hope for future good to sustain us through our suffering. Paul elaborates, saying that it’s God’s grace poured out on us that allows us to put full hope in a future we cannot see, which is why we can…

“…boast in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

Romans 5:2-5 CSB

Paul’s train of thought starts and ends with hope:3 

Paul builds this incredible case that God’s grace gives us hope so that when the trials of life happen, we can endure. Because of Jesus’ suffering and death, we can confidently boast, even rejoice, in our trust of God in the midst of great pain. And as we patiently persevere, our character grows and deepens and strengthens which, in turn, only fuels more hope for better days.4

This “chain” serves as support for Paul’s assertion that “this hope will not disappoint us” (5:5).3 Our hope is unshakable because God’s grace grants it and His love sources it.

Hope keeps us afloat. When despair threatens to drown us, we can fix our eyes on our Savior who not only knows our pain but has promised we have a future with Him that will be worth it (Romans 8:18) – as He’s proven by His own choice to endure great affliction.

But hope also gives us staying power because we can trust the purpose that will result from it – like the shaping of our character. And the sharing of the hope we’ve found in Christ with others. It’s why Paul tells us to remember that God “comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others” (2 Corinthians 1:4 NLT). 

On a recent Instagram reel, Jennie Allen challenged listeners to consider Romans 8:28 in a similar way, suggesting “the good” that God is working out isn’t just for our personal good but also for the good of others.5 After all, we’ve been “called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28b, emphasis mine).

This Hope

During Advent, I listened to Annie F. Downs’ podcast as she led her listeners through each week’s focus. Knowing that “hope” was to be my Word of the Year, I listened intently that first week as she unpacked the Romans 5:3-5 passage. Reading in the CSB translation, she kept emphasizing “this hope,” explaining this hope doesn’t disappoint because it’s anchored in Christ. 

And like Paul, Annie exhorts us to believe with faith that this hope won’t disappoint because our suffering matters!6 It shapes us. It strengthens us. It equips us to go into the world and share the love and healing Christ has given us.

Photo by Luke Ellis-Craven on Unsplash

So as we absorb all these truths, we can choose to allow them to do a holy work in us so that the moment suffering starts, we can pick up the tools we’ve been given: 

  • First, we look to God and tell Him how we hurt, getting honest with all our thoughts and feelings. 
  • Then, we look to the promise of Isaiah 41:10 and ask God to be our help. 
  • And to help us persevere, we ask, “What does it look like not to quit here, Lord?”6 & 7 

These practical steps equip us to name what hurts so that we can move through the pain, leaning on God’s wisdom and power. We can do this because we believe our suffering has significance – to God because He cares, to us because of what it can work out, and to the people we’ll meet who struggle and need our witness, our story, our comfort. 

And in all of it – at every stage, in every season, and through every storm – this hope will be what sustains us. This hope will build in us a faith that will carry us into better days and into a future of promise where pain will no longer exist. Let’s grab the lifelines handed to us by the One who knows what it is to agonize. Let’s trust His promises and believe that our suffering matters.

Father God, it’s incredible to imagine that You have been at work for all these millennia pulling off the Great Rescue Plan, redeeming the lost and the sinful back into your presence. It’s also humbling to realize the great pain You caused yourself and your Son by implementing such a rescue. Thank You for your grace that has been poured into us with power and for your love that has been given to us for purpose. Lord Jesus, knowing that You chose to suffer for us shows us what it is to endure and to trust. Knowing that You suffer with us encourages us to keep persevering with a hope that won’t disappoint. Knowing that You will work out all things for the good of those who love you, for those who are called to your purpose builds our faith. Knowing that this suffering matters increases our hope for better days. Holy Spirit, how grateful we are that You are with us always – that we never have to struggle in our own strength. We come to You now to speak aloud the suffering that threatens to strangle us. We confess our fear and our fury, our despair and our discouragement. We ask that You would help us endure all that weighs us down and causes such pain. We ask that You would help us to keep our eyes on Jesus so that we live in the hope that He will never leave us and that in Him our suffering will have purpose. In His name, amen.
(inspired by Epic of Eden; Galatians 3:13-14; Ephesians 1:7-8; John 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Romans 5:3-5,8; 1 Peter 4:1-13 NLT; Romans 8:28; Hebrews 12:2; Isaiah 41:10)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – Dan Wilt, Into the Wild, as read/heard on Seedbed’s Wake Up Call, March 31, 2023
  • 2 –  “Great Rescue Plan” is coined by Dr. Sandra Richter in Epic of Eden,^ see p.130
  • 3 – The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, p.1240
  • 4 – Harper’s Bible Commentary, p.1144
  • 5 – Jennie Allen’s Instagram reel
  • 6 – Annie F. Downs’ “Hope” podcast
  • 7 – more on this idea of “not giving up” next week!
  • In our new “This Hope” playlist, the song “Weep With Me” by Rend Collective can be a great prayer as we call out to God with our pain…and hope.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • In our journey to become more Christ-like, to deepen our knowing of Him and strengthen our faith in Him, we incorporate rhythms in our lives — not to box us into legalistic have-to’s but to develop within ourselves a delight in being with Him. This spring, I’d love for us to lean into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word. Each week I’ll suggest a chapter or passage of Scripture that we can settle into, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
    • This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on Romans 5:1-11 CSB. Take your time, giving the Spirit space to speak, prompt, and lead. Read less for information and more for inspiration — to the point of looking for what you can discover about who God is (rather than what He can do for you). And if the Spirit leads you to pause on one verse, stay there! Freedom in the Spirit!!
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Milada Vigerova on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit. 

This Hope: Resurrection Life

Stepping into the huge sanctuary, I saw beyond the crowd to the stage, draped in vines and flowers as if a garden. Then, eyes wide with wonder, I saw it – the empty tomb.

Soon Easter songs echoed around me with praises and truths about “Christ risen,” and my heart absorbed every note, every emotion. But the words preached reminded me that the very first Easter morning held no hallelujahs. The disciples still grieved, still struggled with what felt like dashed hope. And, the women headed to the tomb to finish the burial rituals they had barely begun on Friday. 

When they saw the empty tomb, it didn’t fill them with awe as it had me – because they didn’t yet grasp its meaning. But the minute Mary heard Jesus say her name, she knew. HE LIVES!

whiteschapel.org

All these 2000+ years later, we celebrate the empty tomb – not from a place of fear or confusion but faith because Christ’s resurrection is everything. Friday’s death was the ultimate sacrifice and atonement, but without Sunday’s resurrection, the cross would’ve been forgotten, Jesus’ story lost forever. 

Without the resurrection, there’s no Church, no preaching, no faith (1 Corinthians 15:14). There’s no forgiveness of sins nor any life beyond death (v.17-18). There’s no hope, not in the now nor for eternity (v.19).

But, praise the Lord, we’ve been given a “new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” (1 Peter 1:3). A living hope because Jesus lives! A living hope because Christ lives in us. And this hope, it’s powered by Christ’s resurrection.

New Life

Something about all the new life that bursts forth each spring has me anticipating this particular season more than any other every year. Winter is hard. It’s darker and colder. It’s brown and lifeless. So when I first spy the green sprouts on trees and the flowers in the fields, my heart soars. For me, spring is a living hope, the tangible evidence of what Jesus’ death and resurrection promise – new life.

The imagery of a thriving, fruitful tree in the summer shedding its leaves in the fall and looking dead throughout winter should bring to mind Jesus’ own life and death. And just when we’re tempted to believe the tree will no longer live, green buds pop out in the spring. New life!

The symbolism of our own baptism embodies the same meaning. As we go under the water, we die to our old selves, to our sin. And as we rise out of the water, washed clean, we are new creatures in Christ (Romans 6:4). New life!

This is resurrection life. It is life made new in Christ. It is life full of power and hope.

Jesus described Himself as the Resurrection and Life (John 11:25). At the time He used this moniker, His friend Lazarus lay dead in a tomb and Lazarus’ sisters were upset that Jesus delayed His arrival. They trusted in His healing power. They even believed in the resurrection to come on the final day (vv. 21-24). But they were about to be introduced to resurrection power in the here and now. The “I Am the Resurrection and Life” spoke a word, and life stepped out of the tomb (vv. 43-44).

Literally, Lazarus was given new life. And when we put our faith in Jesus, we also have new life – yes, for eternity but also for our days on earth – because the same power that raised Jesus from the dead is in us (Romans 8:11). In other words, that power, that Spirit, they give us all we need to live and hope each day. New life!

Surprised by Hope

NT Wright, one of the most brilliant Christian minds of our day, has written a book entitled Surprised by Hope. So, of course, I had to have it. And, I was certainly surprised!

Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash

I’m not sure what I expected, but I wasn’t thinking it would be a book about resurrection. Yet, that’s exactly what NT Wright focuses on. I’m beginning to understand why – because if we, as followers of Jesus, don’t have a full and correct understanding of resurrection, we fail to have the full hope of Christ:

  • If we don’t live a faith rooted in the Word, we’ll confuse “death defeated” for “death redescribed,” where we merge many of the world’s ideas of afterlife – like total annihilation or reincarnation or ghosts – with that of God’s New Heaven and New Earth (chapter 2 of SBH). 
  • If we don’t live out the truth of the resurrection of the dead, our faith becomes an amalgamation of the Platos and Dantes, of Hollywood and postmodernism. 
  • If we don’t make Jesus’ resurrection the center of all we are, we live by a distorted truth, believing all roads lead to heaven or thinking that heaven is the ultimate destination.1 

Rather, we need to lean deeply into Scripture, as well as Church tradition. Our creeds have it right. But do we truly believe that Jesus was crucified, dead, and buried? That He was resurrected and ascended to heaven in order to one day judge all who live and all who have died? That our bodies will be resurrected and live forever?2

Or do we worry that heaven will be boring? Or assume that we’ll become angels in heaven? Or think that God is a narcissist who just wants to be adored for all eternity? Or believe that there’s a second chance waiting in some version of a purgatory where we learn to get it right?

Neither Scripture nor tradition support any of these. Rather, truth looks like what Jesus said to the thief on the cross, “Truly I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) – in other words, at death our spirits depart earth and join Jesus in heaven. But that’s not the end.

Because truth also looks like what Jesus taught us to pray – that God’s kingdom will come, that His will shall be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10). In the person of Christ, God’s kingdom has been ushered into the world so that God’s will can be made known and carried out. And, after Christ’s return, bodies will be raised from the dead to live on the New Heaven and Earth (1 Thessalonians 4:16; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44,52).

I love how NT Wright describes heaven and the future of its transformation (along with earth’s) – that is, think of heaven in its current state as another dimension that coexists alongside ours. Then on the Last Day, the two dimensions merge. Our bodies raised, the New Heaven and New Earth exist as one beautiful place of perfection and Presence (Revelation 21:1-7).

So, when we embrace the truth of what heaven, death, and resurrection are, we begin to grasp why Christian hope is one for the future AND the present. Friends, we have hope that things in our lives can change because the ultimate Christian hope is a person – One who lived, died, and defeated death by His resurrection. Our hope has already come to life in Jesus! And through Him, we can live in hope for the here and now, as well as for our future life with Him.

This Hope

This truth about Easter – about resurrection’s power and life – lays the foundation for all that is to come in this series. Just as we look for life in the once-dead-looking trees, we can search for Christ in all our sufferings. We can put all our trust in His promises. And we can hang-on to this uniquely Christian hope.

This hope is anchored in the person of Christ. This hope promises God’s presence, protection, provision. This hope flows from the blood shed on the cross. This hope rises like our Savior from the grave, resurrecting life when everything around us and in us is death. This hope puts all bets on the future when Jesus returns and the resurrected believers join Him in the New Heaven and New Earth.

So, let’s step out of the tombs that hold us in death and claim Christ’s resurrection life. Let’s choose to believe in this hope we’ve been given.

Heavenly Father, You are all wisdom. You know all things about all people over all time, and we can only know what You reveal to us. So, we ask for your help as we dig a little deeper into what it means to have a living hope, to live a resurrection life. We know that it’s by your power that You raised Jesus to life, and we’re so grateful that You will raise us to life, as well – both now and for eternity. Lord Jesus, You are our hope in life and death. In You, life springs eternal! We pray that as we stretch our minds to grasp what your resurrection means, we would truly find rest in knowing that YOU LIVE! May we trust that in You our hope is secure. Holy Spirit, the very power You used to raise Jesus to life is IN US, which means we live in the hope of that power, and we trust that it is in us and for us. We believe in the truths of Scripture and join in the tradition of the Church across the millenia. We believe in You, Holy Spirit. We believe in the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
(Inspired by Proverbs 2:6; Matthew 11:27; 1 Peter 1:3; 1 Corinthians 6:14; “Christ Our Hope in Life and Death” by Keith and Kristyn Getty; Romans 1:4; the Apostle’s Creed2)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • 1 – The current assumption of many Christians, “heaven is the ultimate destination,” is one that NT Wright says is a product of a popular picture of what happens after death and that it is based on a misunderstanding of some chapters in Revelation. First, he explains that the scene with the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4 and 5 is not a picture of the Last Day but one of a present reality. He says, “Heaven, in the Bible, is not a future destiny but the other, hidden dimension of our ordinary life.” He then describes heaven as God’s dimension that runs parallel to ours, and at the last day the two are merged – as seen in Revelation 21 and 22 (the New Heaven and the New Earth). These are lofty yet deep ideas. I have reread chapters 1 and 2 of Surprised by Hope many times, and I’m still wrapping my brain around them. I do believe that NT Wright is challenging some “popular” ideas about end times with some strong arguments that find their roots in Scripture and Church tradition. I do not present myself as an expert on any of this at all. But I find myself nodding my head at what NT Wright points out about our current Christian culture and how much of our “beliefs” are actually merged with the world’s ideas. I hoped to use NT Wright’s teachings as a springboard for us in order to clarify our understanding of resurrection SO THAT we’ll be able to better live from a faith that is rooted in and powered by Christ’s resurrection. And from that, we’ll better live with THIS HOPE.
    • I invite you to sink your teeth into NT Wright’s Surprised by Hope^ book — then let me know what you think. True confessions…I haven’t made it past the first two chapters because I keep rereading them. LOL
  • 2 – The Apostle’s Creed: https://www.churchofengland.org/our-faith/what-we-believe/apostles-creed 
  • In our new “This Hope” playlist, I’ve tried to capture with songs many of the truths described in this post — truths that will become themes woven throughout our spring series: resurrection power, hope in suffering, hope in God’s promises. The opening song, “We’ve Got This Hope,” by Ellie Holcomb absolutely nails our themes, and I can’t stop listening to it!

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • In our journey to become more Christ-like, to deepen our knowing of Him and strengthen our faith in Him, we incorporate rhythms in our lives — not to box us into legalistic have-to’s but to develop within ourselves a delight in being with Him. This spring, I’d love for us to lean into the rhythm of meditation. Unlike eastern meditation that seeks to empty the mind and self of everything, Christian meditation desires to fill our minds and beings with Christ. SO — each day, to the best of our abilities, let’s meditate on God’s Word. Each week I’ll suggest a chapter or passage of Scripture that we can settle into, or as my friend JD Walt says, “ruminate on the Word just as a cow ruminates on his cud.” In other words, don’t rush. Read. Pause. Listen. Reread. Pause. Receive. Give space for the Spirit to reveal and enlighten.
    • This week, we can meditate (or ruminate) on 1 Corinthians 15. It’s a long chapter in which Paul addresses a “popular” idea that there is no resurrection of the dead, so it’s full of resurrection language and teaching. If it’s overwhelming to meditate on the entire chapter, focus on the section containing verses 12-23. Read less for information and more for inspiration. And if the Spirit leads you to pause on one verse, stay there! Freedom in the Spirit!!
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by CP on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit. 

God of Hope: Transcendent and Immanent

It’s morning on the third day. The tomb is empty. And the Eleven (once Twelve) are gathered to hear the bizarre, perplexing stories of Jesus appearing to the women, to Peter, and to the two from Emmaus (Luke 24:33-35). 

Confusion reigns where shock and grief still consume – “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel” (v.21).

As if a ghost, Jesus suddenly appears, proclaiming peace and asking, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds?” (v.38). He exhibits His wounds, eats a little fish, and explains, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me” (v.45), then He expands their minds to understand that He, the Messiah, had to suffer and rise from the dead (v.46). 

Yet, still they ask, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6, emphasis mine). Despite everything Jesus has said and demonstrated, something in the disciples continues to expect a savior who resembles David more than God – someone who would restore Israel to its former glory and defeat its enemies.

For the men who worked most closely with the Son of God, who loved Him most fiercely, who followed Him despite what He asked of them – these disciples, these apostles, they found it hard to grasp exactly what Jesus was up to.

His ways are higher than their ways (Isaiah 55:9). 

Our God transcends all human experience and understanding. The disciples felt the truth of this as they wrestled with Jesus’ teachings and actions – over and over failing to understand (Luke 18:34).  

His thoughts are higher than their thoughts (Isaiah 55:9).

Yet Jesus, who walked the earth in order to give His life, first had to descend from the heavens (Ephesians 4:10). He had to leave His throne room in order to usher in God’s kingdom here on earth (Luke 17:20-21). And, when He ascended back to His place of power and authority, He sent His Spirit to dwell in us (Acts 1:8, 2:4). 

Our heavenly Lord is transcendent and immanent – both beyond our grasp and beckoning us to be with Him, just as He is within us.

Empty Tomb

The disciples thought they understood the plan – heal and make whole so people would follow Jesus. THEN, He’d set them free.

They thought they knew who they were following – the Messiah, the One from God who wouldn’t die but rise to power.

But then the cross. His death. Along with Jesus’ body, their hopes for all that Messiah would bring were buried. Dead.

So, when the women found an empty tomb on that first Easter morning, Jesus’ ways once again transcended their ability to perceive what it could mean. And it makes me wonder what I miss about the empty tomb – have I heard the story so many times that I fail to grasp its fullness?

The Son of God died and was buried. For three days in utter darkness and the stink of death.

Then, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus’ body – His human yet immortal, flesh and blood body – was resurrected. Brought to life. Living and breathing. Talking and laughing. Eating and teaching.

Resurrected.

Jesus’ death defeated sin. His resurrection conquered death. It left the tomb empty and the stone rolled away so His followers could peer inside and know the truth.

He lives!

So that we can live. Yes, in eternity – always and forever with Him – but also now. 

Photo by Steve Harrris on Unsplash

Paul calls this empty-tomb-living the “newness of life:”

For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. …Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. …Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit.

Romans 6:4,23; 7:6b NLT

Suddenly and beautifully, a once-lofty idea settles into my soul. 

In my own spiritual self, I’ve died – to sin. Jesus’ death brings a glorious power upon me, upon all His followers, to be able to die. to. sin. And, just as He was brought to life, so are we – resurrected into newness of life. New lives, sanctified because of the Spirit in us.

What was once a sin-defined existence is re-defined by resurrection.
What was once a life unworthy is redeemed and readied for holy living.
What was once a tomb of a body is now a temple.

Our Hope

So, when I think about all that makes us tired and torn, weak and weary, I look back into the empty tomb. And remember.

Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. 
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary;
they will walk and not be faint.

Isaiah 40:31

Not because of the way they live but because of His death. Not because life will always make sense but because He is with us. Not because life will always work out the way we want but because in Him we have a living hope (1 Timothy 4:10). 

Our hope – it is in the One who can never die, the One who defeated death. 
Our hope – it is as alive as our Savior who walked out of His empty tomb to usher in new life. 
Our hope – it is transcendent of our logical ways of thinking yet finds its anchor in truth. 
Our hope – it is immanent because it resides within us, because He dwells within us.

Friend, this Easter Day I pray you can look into the empty tomb and find the fullness of hope – a holy hope that’s as alive as He is, as new as you are, and as present as the Spirit in you. I pray that you can embrace our God who is as transcendent as He is immanent and trust that His love for you is enough to overcome any sin that wants to keep you in the tomb.

Christ is risen! And with Him, so are we!

Father God, thank You for sending your one and only Son to die on our behalf so that our faith in Him redeems all our sin and gives us new life. Lord Jesus, we celebrate your victory over death. To see the empty tomb is to remind us of the fullness of new life we’ve been given – both now and for eternity. Holy Spirit, your presence in us proves that we no longer live as empty tombs but as holy temples. We ask for your continuous help to live out this new life we’ve been given with humility and hope, with intentionality and integrity, with your truth and our trust. Empower us to embody all that Jesus is so that our lives can be beacons of light in the world around us just as His light displayed God’s glory on the first Easter morning. Hallelujah! Christ is risen! In His name, amen.
(inspired by: John 3:16; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; John 14:26; Ephesians 4:2-6, 21-24; Psalm 25:21; Jeremiah 17:7; Matthew 5:14-16; John 17:1-5)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • Just as Bryan and Katie Torwalt’s lyrics in “Nothing Is Holding Me Back” on our God of Hope playlist remind us, Jesus is doing something new. And Easter really marks us with that truth — like Him and in Him, we have died to our old selves and old ways, and we’re born into new life! And should we doubt we have the strength or power to live in such newness of life, We the Kingdom belts out the truth that “God Is On the Throne” — Hallelujah! He reigns! He saves! He’s never gonna let us down!
  • This ends our Lent series. I can’t believe our seven weeks have gone so fast. We’ll continue our exploration of hope in the next series, “This Hope,” where we’ll look at how suffering and hope work together. I know — suffering doesn’t sound like much fun. But the truth is, we all do suffer in this life, so it helps to know that in God’s upside-down kingdom, our suffering not only has purpose but our hope can be sourced by it. And the foundation of all our hope in the midst of suffering is God’s promises. Y’all, I think this is gonna be a good one. I hope you’ll join in and invite someone else to take part too. Happy Easter! XOXO

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • I pray that this rhythm of putting Isaiah’s words to memory sinks deeply into our psyches so that we’ll always remember that those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength — in Him, we’ll soar like eagles!!!!!

    Do you not know?
        Have you not heard?
    The Lord is the everlasting God,
        the Creator of the ends of the earth.
    He will not grow tired or weary,
        and his understanding no one can fathom.
    He gives strength to the weary
        and increases the power of the weak.
    Even youths grow tired and weary,
        and young men stumble and fall;
    but those who hope in the Lord
        will renew their strength    .
    They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
        they will walk and not be faint    .
    Isaiah 40:28-31, NIV
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others — especially in this Easter Season! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Photo by Jonny Gios on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.

God of Hope: Just and Merciful

This Lent I’ve been fasting from television in the evenings – with the exception of watching The Chosen. I just can’t get over seeing the story of my Savior unfold with such emotion. The writers have captured so much of what we’ve been exploring in this space during Lent – namely, the paradoxical nature of God. Through artistry we’re given greater imagination to see the push and pull of Jesus’ humanity and divinity, the outworking of His holiness and love, the beauty of His sovereignty over creation held by His goodness – and His just and merciful nature.

God is just. Part of His multifaceted character includes justice: “He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4). God, in His holy perfection must always judge rightly – it’s why He casts Adam and Eve out of Eden upon their disobedience; it’s why He floods the earth, washing it of all its “only evil all the time” state; it’s why He allows Babylon to defeat and take the Israelites into exile after decades of covenant-breaking pagan worship. Much as a judge presiding over a trial exacts justice for crimes committed, God does not let sin go unpunished because it would be wrong – but also because it would go against His very nature to do so.

And yet, at the same time…

God is merciful. David said God is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in loving-kindness. The LORD is good to all, and His mercies are over all His works” (Psalm 145:8–9, NASB). It’s why we witness God forgive again and again – like Abraham after he lies to a king about his wife…twice, the Israelites after they bow down to a golden calf, and David after his adulterous and murderous choices as king. God chooses not to cut off His relationship with the people He loves, offering mercy in place of what they deserve because He embodies mercy.

Justice and mercy – opposites on the spectrum. Yet, in His mysterious way, God’s character encompasses both. Even more mind-blowing is how God can impose consequences while issuing great mercy. At the same time.

Of all the paradoxical natures of God, justice and mercy are the hardest for my mind to reconcile. Maybe I imagine the scales of justice, literally, where on one hand is the crime, the sin, and on the other hand is its due consequence: you cheat on taxes, you go to jail; you run a red light, you get a ticket.

But then I also imagine mercy as wiping that scale clean – no punishment given. 

So, how do the two reside in one God all at once? The scale image fails us. But, we have been given a picture of what just-and-merciful look like together – the cross. 

When we look upon the cross with our Savior’s body hanging, bleeding, dying, we see justice. All sin for all time paid for, covered, atoned. We also see mercy – for the One who assumed our sin as His punishment removes sin’s stain from our own lives, now and for eternity. What we deserved, He took on Himself.

This hope we have in Christ begins at the cross. For every unworthy notion we might have about ourselves, for every self-critical slander that tortures our minds, for every moment of despair that keeps us from moving forward, for every habit that keeps us in cycles of sin, we have the cross and the One who died upon it. For justice. And mercy.

Photo by il vano on Unsplash

The Cross

This week on The Chosen I watched the scene where Jesus is healing a crowd of people all day, and on the pages of Scripture that is all the detail we get. But in film, we get to hear the sounds of rejoicing and the gasps of awe. We witness the perplexity of the newly chosen disciples as they try to grasp what Jesus is about (they are still waiting for Him to overthrow the Romans). And, as the sun sets, we watch as Jesus drags His beyond-the-brink-of-exhaustion human body to His tent. He heals until the last person leaves, refusing to turn anyone away. It depletes Him. And it leaves me weeping for all the times I’ve taken Him for granted, taken His mercy for granted.

The next day He awakens fresh and ready for the next healing – but it requires Him to go to Jerusalem. Near the city gate, actual crosses have been erected along the road, heavy with the hanging bodies of murderers and thieves – set in plain view for all to see as a warning of what Roman justice looks like. 

The camera zooms in on Jesus as He glances up from His friends to see the crosses. A look passes in His eyes, and we know He knows. The dread of His coming day on the cross flashes in the crease of His brow, and a lump in my throat chokes me because He shows me what His brand of justice and mercy look like.

On the Lenten calendar, this is Holy Week – the week of Christ’s passion, His suffering, His enduring of all that He must in order to redeem us all back to God. This is our week to remember. To sit in the pain that Jesus experienced. To reflect on the work He accomplished by dying a death we deserved.

Justice has been served for all our sins, and mercy has been extended because Jesus paid the price. This is the hope of the cross. We live free and forgiven because our sins have been atoned.

Hope and Renewed Strength

Throughout my walk with Jesus, I’ve come up time and again with the reality of my weaknesses as a human. Physically, my body doesn’t always do what I want it to do. Mentally, my thoughts can hold me captive. Emotionally, my feelings can hijack God’s good plans with fear and shame. One by one I’ve accepted these weaknesses and have looked to God for help and strength.

Much more recently, however, I’ve had to come to terms with my weak faith, my inability to conjure up enough trust out of my own strength to carry me through waves of doubt or wilderness waiting. The day I finally saw my weakness for what it is, a dam broke inside me and I wept – sorrow for my pride and gratitude for the freedom that coursed through my veins.

Maybe it’s this new found acceptance of my own weakness that has me crying, yet again – this time with the followers of Jesus as I witness their own coming to terms with personal weakness. 

Because of Jesus, Mary Magdalene’s hope comes out of restored life. Simon’s hope is sourced by a promised future of freedom. Matthew’s hope flows from a place of belonging and purpose. To a person, Jesus meets them where they are, truly seeing them for who they are – and hope floods in as they accept what He offers. 

Jesus in His divinity knows the plan and outcome. Jesus in His humanity navigates the limitations of flesh – body, mind, emotions. But what underlies all of the curious conversations He has with His followers is the hope Messiah brings. 

Watching the exchanges, hearing the dialogues, seeing hearts change because of Jesus’ presence – it all reminds me to keep putting my hope in Him. To keep receiving the strength He has to offer because I don’t have, and can’t even come up with, enough strength to believe and behold and become all that I long to. 

Now I know why this one sentence out of all of Scripture grips me and fills me so:

“Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength.” Isaiah 40:31a

Friends, it’s not within our power to build enough strength to be and do all that we desire, all that Jesus calls us toward. But when we release the reins of our lives and wills, giving space for the Spirit to live and move and have His being within us, we can stop putting our hope in others and ourselves. We can begin putting our hope in the only One who can be our enough. 

Jesus will renew our strength every single time we put our hope in Him. And when our faith falters, we can look at the cross to remember how His justice and mercy make a way for hope.

Father God, how grateful we are that your mercies are new every morning – that as the sun rises to usher in a new day, so your mercy brings us new hope, new life. And how amazing it is that your mercy never excuses sin. You never back away from what is right and just; You make a way for justice to be served. And how humbling it is to look to the cross and remember Whose blood covers every injustice. Lord Jesus, we remember. We look at You, bloodied and beaten, hanging on a cross You never deserved yet knew was coming. You chose to die brutally so justice would be served and mercy extended. Thank You that your faithful love never ends – that your mercies never cease! Great is your faithfulness – we will hope in You! Holy Spirit, what hope we have knowing that You are our constant source of wisdom and strength. Our faith grows more secure everyday because You are in us and with us, filling us with all we need to believe, behold, and become everything the Lord is calling us to. We ask for your help in our unbelief. We ask for your strength as we face our own weakness. We ask for your justice to guide us and mercy to fill us so that we can live into the truth that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. We put our hope in Jesus and our strength is renewed! In His name, amen.
(inspired by Lamentations 3:22-24; Deuteronomy 32:4; Psalm 89:14; 1 John 1:7; Matthew 20:28; 1 Corinthians 2:12; Mark 9:24; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Isaiah 40:31)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations.

  • If you haven’t watched The Chosen yet, I cannot recommend it more. Words fail to capture the awe and wonder I have felt as new connections are made and deeper understanding is grasped. I think I want to make The Chosen my Lent tradition every year! 🙂 It’s free to watch. I’d love to hear your responses.
  • I had to do some reading of various articles to get my head wrapped around (or at least try to) how justice and mercy can be held in tandem within God. Got Questions had some of the most helpful explanations.
  • I think it’s easy for us in our educated, “enlightened” culture to want to achieve certainty in all things before we’ll believe them. Even as believers in Christ, we can succumb to the desire of understanding before we’ll trust — yet that’s not what faith is made of. Yes, there is much we can learn and grasp and apply as we dive into Scripture! But there will always be some elements that are mysterious, like how can a bush burn but not be consumed? How can God be both just and merciful? I so appreciate writers who have gone before us, who’ve explored such mysteries and can offer encouragement that for all we can cultivate about our faith, there will always remain mystery. And, it’s in that mystery that we can allow our questions to ignite our curiosity and awaken our awe of the One we’ll never fully understand. Yet we can trust. Thank you, Jen Pollock Michel, for going before and putting Surprised by Paradox^ into words we can turn to over and over!
  • I’ve attended Bible study at a local church since moving here in 2020, and one of the modern hymns we sing on the regular is “His Mercy Is More.” You’ll find it on our playlist — it’s a great one to play when we’re tempted to think we’ve sinned one too many times or gone beyond His grace. Nope. His mercy is always more! And we can receive it knowing that its debt has been paid fully.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • As we add another two lines to our Isaiah memory passage, I pray that the truth of the words those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength will pour into your spirit, wallpaper your mind, and anchor your heart in the truth that God’s strength meets and overcomes every weakness you have. Put your hope in Him and be strengthened!

    Do you not know?
        Have you not heard?
    The Lord is the everlasting God,
        the Creator of the ends of the earth.
    He will not grow tired or weary,
        and his understanding no one can fathom.
    He gives strength to the weary
        and increases the power of the weak.
    Even youths grow tired and weary,
        and young men stumble and fall;
    but those who hope in the Lord
        will renew their strength.
    Isaiah 40:28-31a, NIV
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others — especially as Easter approaches! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

God of Hope: Incomprehensible and Approachable

Years ago, my husband, my parents, and I attended the “Indescribable Tour,” an evening of worship with Chris Tomlin and teaching with Louie Giglio. It was a night of stargazing – not the celebrity sort, but the celestial. Like the Psalmist who said, “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them” (8:3-4), Chris and Louie set out to give us eyes to see just how incomprehensible the universe and its Creator are to us.

Taking us out beyond earth, our sun, and our Milky Way Galaxy, Louie began naming various points of interest in the universe on the way to the furthest point any human eye had ever seen. Showing a picture taken by the Hubble Telescope, Louie kept zooming in on the Whirlpool Galaxy, taking us closer and closer to its center, the “X-Structure.” 

Louie reminded us that through Jesus, God created everything on earth – and in the heavens (Colossians 1:16). Then he clicked the final slide to reveal what sat at the core of this “X-Structure,” thirty-one million light years away. A cross. 

Not long after our “Indescribable” experience, I watched a sermon Louie had given that took listeners in the opposite direction – microscopic. As he went deeper into our biological cells, he zoomed in on a tiny protein called Laminin, which exists in our body in the shape of…a cross.

Jesus is everywhere. 

Revelation describes Him as the “Lamb who was slaughtered before the world was made” (8:13, NLT).

Paul describes Him as Creator of the world and Redeemer of the New Creation:

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God.
    He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation,
for through him God created everything
    in the heavenly realms and on earth.
He made the things we can see
    and the things we can’t see—
such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world.
    Everything was created through him and for him.
He existed before anything else,
    and he holds all creation together.
Christ is also the head of the church,
    which is his body.
He is the beginning,
    supreme over all who rise from the dead.
    So he is first in everything.
For God in all his fullness
    was pleased to live in Christ,
and through him God reconciled
    everything to himself.
He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth
    by means of Christ’s blood on the cross.

Colossians 1:15-20, NLT

Jesus is everywhere. 

Paul’s poem tries to capture for us how unfathomable this Firstborn over all creation is while at the same time pointing us to the One who can be known – two states of being that seem impossible to be held together. And yet, Jesus embodies both the incomprehensible and the approachable. 

An Invitation

In much the same way as Paul, John waxes poetic about our unfathomable Maker:

In the beginning the Word already existed.
    The Word was with God,
    and the Word was God.
He existed in the beginning with God.
God created everything through him,
    and nothing was created except through him.
The Word gave life to everything that was created,
    and his life brought light to everyone.
The light shines in the darkness,
    and the darkness can never extinguish it.

John 1:1-5, NLT

And, like Paul, John brings the incomprehensible down to a moment of invitation: “So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness” (v.14). The One who spoke and brought the universe into being also stepped down onto the planet He’d populated to become a person of flesh. Not to judge us but to live like us – and to offer humanity a way back into the loving arms of the Father.

Talk about unfathomable.

Photo by Denis Degioanni on Unsplash

Oh So Tired

I don’t know where this finds you today, friend. But, I suspect most of us at some level are tired. Maybe we’re mentally exhausted by the constant bombardment of bad news. Perhaps we’re physically worn down by long to-do lists or the constant companion of chronic illness. Some of us even feel depleted spiritually, wondering where God is in all the mess.

Jesus in His humanity knew this kind of fatigue (John 4:6). He knew the temptation of giving in to hunger or pride or desperation (Luke 4:2,7,9). Yet – Isaiah reminds us – unlike our God, we are limited in our ability to push through in our own strength day after day. It doesn’t matter our health status or age:

Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall.

Isaiah 40:30

Isaiah doesn’t point this out to make us feel worse about ourselves but to offer hope – because our God is unlimited in power and might. And, He offers His strength to us:

Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

Isaiah 41:10, NLT

The Both-And God

The hope we need is not rooted in ourselves, other people, or even the promises of the world. Our hope is a person – Jesus. Who both numbers every star and knows each of our names. Who both spins planets into orbit and supplies each of us with what we need. Who both stands above us in the heavens and reaches His hand down to pull us into a hug.

So, as we sit in the tension of such a paradoxical deity, may we begin to recognize just how beautiful it is that Jesus is both incomprehensible and approachable – because somehow we find exactly what we need in the One who calls us His. With His mind-blowing abilities to create and sustain AND with His grace to redeem and draw near, our both-and God embodies our every hope.

Father God, like Paul and John we get all mushy inside thinking about all that You have done to establish the entire universe and to meticulously create bodily systems that function beyond the view of the human eye. How grateful we are for your grace and gift of life. How much we desire to put our whole hope in You. Lord Jesus, You are everywhere. How humbly we come to You, knowing how tiny we are in the big picture of galaxies and histories. You, who put every star and planet in place also walked this earth to die for our sins. The two ideas are inconceivable together – and yet, this is who You are.The fact that You dwell in us, continuously inviting us into your presence, is more than our minds can take in. Holy Spirit, how we need You. We’re so easily wearied, so quickly weakened in our flesh. To know that You are constantly with us gives us hope to keep our eyes on the Maker of the skies, trusting that He will continue to keep the universe aligned and working – including our very small and significant pieces of it. God of all hope, fill me with joy and peace as I put my trust in You, that I might overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen. 
(Ephesians 2:8; Romans 6:23; Psalm 8:3-4; Romans 5:8; Romans 8:10; 1 Corinthians 6:19; Romans 15:13)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations. (The first four are resources noted in the post.)

  • Of course, YouTube has the Indescribable talk Louie gave all those years ago. 😉 It’s about an 43 minutes long, but you can skim through parts of it to see some of those stops along the way to Whirlpool Galaxy — or head to the 37 minute mark to see the cross. And, here’s a segment of the sermon where Louie Giglio talks about Laminin.
  • The Bible Project blog has an article about the Colossians 1 poem that Paul wrote.
  • Our God of Hope playlist continues to anchor me in the hope I need each and everyday. I hadn’t included “Indescribable” on our playlist, but Chris’ song, “Everlasting God,” captures all the waiting we do in faith — and all the strength God has for us. Also, an artist who is new to me, Jervis Campbell, has a song on our list, “Hold Me Together,” that’s been rolling around in my soul for a few weeks now. It’s so cool to think of Jesus as what holds all creation together (Colossians 1:17) — and what holds us together.

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • Lenten rhythms often include fasts from things like food or TV or social media. Sometimes they include something we add to our usual routine — like Scripture memorization. I’m a new believer when it comes to putting passages to memory because I’m discovering it’s so much more than a checkbox duty. It’s empowerment because it’s truth. It’s a “listening to and learning the voice of our Creator and Redeemer” — it’s “shaping our minds in the moment to mimic the structure and mind-set of the mind of God” (David Mathis, chapter 5, Habits of Grace). This practice becomes a means of approaching our incomprehensible God so that we can know Him and become like Him!!!!!! So. Let’s add another verse to our Lenten passage:

    Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
    The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
    He will not grow tired or weary,
    and his understanding no one can fathom.
    He gives strength to the weary
        and increases the power of the weak.
    Even youths grow tired and weary,
    and young men stumble and fall;
    Isaiah 40:28-30, NIV
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others — especially as Easter approaches! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.

Source: Bible Project on the Colossians 1 poem.

God of Hope: All-Powerful and Patient

We humans, we’re just not good at waiting. It’s why we honk at slow drivers, tap our toes as we wait in line, and even shout our impatience at the train blocking the intersection. 

God, however, is consistently described as patient – slow to anger, and long-suffering. There’s no yelling coming down from heaven when we miss the mark, yet again. Not even a disappointed sigh. Our holy and loving God knows everything about us – what makes us tick and what trips us up. Our sovereign, good God left His throne to walk the earth as a man so that He could experience the temptations and frustrations that we do. He gets us.

So, He’s patient.

Yet, we read about God being omnipotent – as in He has all the power over all things all the time and in all ways.1 We see at Creation that a spoken word from God is all it took to form light and land, animals and humans. We see His power manifested in miracles like the ten plagues and the parting of the Red Sea. His power goes before His people as they enter the Promised Land, defeating their enemies and providing protection. God’s power oversees nature as He moves stars, rolls back the sun, conceives a baby, and calms the sea. We witness His power in Jesus through healings, the casting out of demons, and raising the dead to life. God. Has all. The power.

He could zap anyone He wants. With a word, He could wipe us out corporately – like He did once before when humans were “only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5). He could give up on us individually when we repeat the same cycles of sin. But, He doesn’t. 

Instead, the One who holds all the power remains patient. He invites us into the holy trust of waiting on Him with a hope that knows how to hold on.

Wait, Hope

The Hebrew words for hope incorporate an element of waiting. Qavah, embodies the tension we feel as we wait, integrating the sense that waiting on God is to wait with expectancy. Another word, yachal, beautifully captures the fully entwined nature of hope and waiting. Both offer us a picture of hope anchored by faith – even in the tension of the wait. 

Yet, when I think of waiting, I don’t always feel hope. Maybe because I’m covered up in impatience and worry and angst. But the more I lean into this ancient way of hope, the more I resonate with the reality of my need to wait with hope because of God’s faithfulness and goodness. I am starting to see how I can wait with the kind of patience God demonstrates.

The irony doesn’t escape me that in my humanity I struggle to live out of the fruit of patience while God embodies it. I recognize my need to remain in Him in order to have the kind of trusting patience I long for – while He is always, only, and ever slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Exodus 34:6). ‘Slow to anger’ is patience. ‘Abounding in love’ is the hesed of God – His perfect loving kindness. Together, these  become a description of God that is interlaced throughout all of Scripture. They are an anchor of His truest nature.

Photo by Dmitry Ratushny on Unsplash

Wait. Hope. Hope. Wait. I feel the tension between them even as I write the words. Wait elicits such negative emotions from me; whereas, hope brings the light, the goodness I long for. And it hits me – maybe that’s the point. God knows us so well that He knows how easy it is for us to spiral in the mess of our minds when we’re in seasons of waiting. He knows that to remain anchored in Him, to trust in Him, we need hope. 

The author of Psalm 130 captures how we feel in the wait perfectly. Then he weaves in the hope to keep his faith in God afloat. Hear his despair in the first two verses:

Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord;
    Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
    to my cry for mercy.

Then the light of hope flickers on in verse 5:

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits,
    and in his word I put my hope.

His whole being qavahs for the Lord because he put his yachal in His word. Then he calls all the people of God to:

…put your hope in the Lord,
    for with the Lord is unfailing love
    and with him is full redemption.
(verse 7)

Psalm 130 becomes the beautiful tapestry woven by words of a person who fully experiences the tension of waiting and hoping, who chooses to trust the ‘unfailing love,’ the hesed, of God. It becomes a model for our own hope in our seasons of waiting.

Patience and Power

Christian worship leaders, Shane and Shane, have recorded a song called “I Will Wait For You” that’s based on Psalm 130. I recommend the whole of it (it’s on our playlist), but take a glance at this section:

Yeah, I will wait for You, I will wait for You
On Your word I will rely
And I will wait for You, surely wait for You
‘Til my soul is satisfied
So put Your hope in God alone
Take courage in His power to save
Completely and forever won
By Christ emerging from the grave

Our themes of waiting and hoping find their source in “His power to save!”

Friends, our God who embodies such paradoxical natures as power and patience demonstrates for us just how much we need both. And once again, we see that God’s power is not the authoritarian versions we’ve met with in human leaders who seek status or privilege or the subservient oppression of everyone under their rule. No. Our God’s power is a source for good in the world. And as we begin to trust in this truth about who He is, we can also rest in our waiting. We can hope in His patience – because He has the power to do all things for all good. He forgives. He redeems. He brings beauty from ashes.

Power for the Weak

Isaiah knew this about God. It’s why he encourages the exiles who had lost all hope of ever returning home, who thought there would be no end to their waiting:

He gives strength to the weary
    and increases the power of the weak.
(40:29)

Our God sees us. He knows our wilderness journeys and our mountaintop hallelujahs. He knows our despair and our doubt. He receives our weary hearts and bodies and mind – and He gives us strength. He patiently waits for us to come to Him, and when we do, He offers His power to us. And we get to watch the all-powerful, sovereign God – the Creator of the ends of the earth – extend His victorious right hand toward us and give us strength.

At this midway point in our Lenten journey, I pray that for whatever you are waiting, you are able to allow God to lift your weary head and empower your weak body so that you can continue to wait in Him, with Him, and on Him. With hope. Friend, His power is not only meant for good, it is fully sufficient. It’s more than enough. His patience is unbounding and full of love. And He offers both to you today. Hold on to our God of hope!

Father God, how great You are! How mighty! How powerful! We marvel at the way a word from You can cause water to separate from the land, making a sea. We stand in awe of the way a word from You can heal and restore. So, we know that You have the kind of power that could destroy, yet You choose to wait patiently for us to turn to You. Like the Psalmist, we ask that You would hear our cries for help and that You would be our patient hope as we wait for your response. Lord Jesus, we know that You endured the weakness of a human body, mind, and will. And we’re so grateful that You understand all our inner workings because that is its own kind of hope – a hope that dares to believe that just as You rose from the grave, we can rise from our despair and doubt. Because You have all the power and patience needed to help us come up from the ashes in beauty. Holy Spirit, thank You for indwelling us, offering us God’s patience and power every moment of every day. We ask that You would continue to help on this journey to live out of hope rather than cynicism or despair. Our patient God holds us. And His power sustains us. In Jesus’ name, amen.
(Inspired by Psalm 95:3-5; Genesis 1:9-10; 2 Kings 20:5; Exodus 34:6; Psalm 130; John 4:6; Matthew 26:38; Philippians 3:10; Isaiah 61:3; Acts 1:8)

Resources: I love sharing with you the books, podcasts, articles, and anything else that has inspired, encouraged, or taught me. These are humble offerings with no expectations. (The first four are resources noted in the post.)

  • 1-I pulled this great description of God’s omnipotence from a “Got Questions” article.
  • I continue to read Jen Pollock Michel’s book Surprised by Paradox.^ And it has really been a gift of affirmation for all I’ve been feeling and thinking in this season. She describes God as the great “I AND” (a play on words of “I AM”) as a way to demonstrate how often He holds within His nature such paradoxes as powerful and patient, sovereign and good, holy and loving. So good. So appreciated.
  • Be sure to check out that Shane and Shane song, “I Will Wait For You” on our playlist! Is there a song that’s resonating with you this Lent?

Rhythms we can incorporate into our daily lives to aid us in our dwelling with God, living for Him, and putting our hope in Him:

  • We continue to add to our rhythm of putting Isaiah 40:28-31 in our hearts by adding verse 29. There is SUCH POWER when we read these lines aloud. They bring us back into the reality of God’s presence, power, and patience.

    Do you not know?
    Have you not heard?
    The Lord is the everlasting God,
    the Creator of the ends of the earth.
    He gives strength to the weary
        and increases the power of the weak.
    Isaiah 40:29, NIV
  • Finally, as a community, let us not neglect sharing God’s hope with others — especially as Easter approaches! Share your God-stories with people around you. Share this site. Share God’s Word. Shine His light into the world! 

Featured Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash. Bits and Pieces photo by Aleksandra Sapozhnikova on Unsplash.
^ Affiliate link, with which I may earn a bit.