Hope for Life Blog

When I was in college, I sang in the school choir. One year, we took a tour that included stops in New Mexico. Traveling through the state, we paused to visit the Carlsbad Caverns. There’s one moment from that tour that stands out in my mind. The guide offered to allow us to experience total darkness. She turned out the lights, leaving us in such blackness that we could not see our hands in front of our faces.

That’s the kind of darkness that existed in the beginning, when God created everything. The Bible says, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” (Genesis 1:2)

Think about that time, then picture the moment when a divine voice shattered the void with the cry: “Let there be light!” Can you imagine the wonder of that moment, when divine light bursts forth into the blackness of the shapeless universe?

The apostle Paul says that that moment is relived in each of our lives when God shines his light into our hearts. “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6) This incredible light, the light of the glory of God, the light that burst forth in creation, now shines in us.

Paul goes on to tell the Corinthians that God has put this light in “jars of clay,” meaning our human bodies. Then he reminds them that these jars are slowly falling apart! However, the treasure that God has put inside those jars grows more precious every day.

We forget about this. We focus on the human side, the mortal side, the part of us that is aging and deteriorating. When we do so, we forget the wonder of the light that God shines into our hearts.

God wants to take your “jar of clay” and make it into a treasure. He wants to take the light that pierced the primeval darkness and place it inside of you.

Do you choose to be the light of the world? Or will you remain a part of the darkness? Will your value come from your aging physical self or from God’s light within you? It’s your choice.

There is an old joke about a witness in a burglary case. The defense lawyer asked John, an elderly man: “Did you see my client commit this burglary?”

“Yes,” answered John, “I plainly saw him take the goods.”

The lawyer questioned John again: “John, this happened at night. Are you sure you saw my client commit this crime?”

“Yes” said John, “I saw him do it.”

Then the lawyer confronted the old man: “John listen, you are 80 years old and your eyesight probably isn’t too great. Just how far can you see at night?”

John replied, “I can see the moon… how far is that?”

I spent two summers in Long Beach, California, working with a church there. One thing that comes to mind when you think about that area is the traffic. Trying to navigate my way along the crowded streets was quite intimidating to this West Texas boy. Since I was spending much of my time looking for places that I had never been to, I had to concentrate on street signs and house numbers as well as deal with the traffic.

Toward the end of that first summer I realized that, if I would just raise my eyes a bit, there was a beautiful view of the mountains near Los Angeles. The view had been there the whole time; I just hadn’t raised my eyes to see it.

The apostle Paul wrote to a group of Christians in Rome: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.” (Romans 1:20) An ancient Hebrew poet wrote in the book of Psalms: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)

If you’re not seeing God’s hand in the world around you, maybe you just need to raise your eyes a bit. The evidence is there for all to see.

I opened the door to my hotel room, heaved a sigh, and thought to myself: “All hotel rooms look alike.” Immediately, the correction came to mind: “No, they don’t. You’ve stayed in a wide range of hotel rooms.”

That second thought, of course, was correct. I’ve stayed in some very nice hotel rooms. I’ve stayed in some that were a bit frightening. I’ve stayed in filthy hotel rooms; I’ve stayed in luxurious ones. I’ve had entire suites to myself; I’ve stayed in rooms that would have been dwarfed by my dogs’ house.

So why had I thought they all look alike? It didn’t take long for the answer to come to me: a hotel room is just space. It can have a couch and a television and a bed and a desk… and still feel completely bare. When I’m by myself, a hotel room feels empty, no matter how elegant it is.

Humans were made for relationships. When God created the world, He saw that the whole creation was good. Until He noted one thing: “It is not good that the man should be alone.” (Genesis 2:18) What was the first thing that was out of place in creation? Loneliness.

We were made to be in relationship with one another. We were made to be in relationship with God. In fact, God’s plan is that we be adopted into His family. The first chapter of John says, speaking of Jesus, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12–13)

The apostle Paul wrote, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26–27) Jesus opened the door for us to become children of God, to have a permanent relationship with our Creator.

The apostle John saw that as something to be celebrated: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1)

In this world, we can sometimes feel alone. But we never have to actually be alone. We have a loving God who wants to be our heavenly Father, who wants to make us His children. He wants to make it so that we are never alone.

Naaman was an important man. He was head of the army of one of the major world powers. The Bible tells us that God has used him to win great victories for his king, the king of Syria.

Naaman was brave. Naaman was influential. Naaman was very, very sick.

He had what the Bible calls leprosy. This can mean any of a number of skin conditions, not just Hansen’s disease (the scientific name for modern leprosy).

Leprosy was taken very seriously. It was thought to be extremely contagious. Because of this, people with leprosy lived isolated lives, cut off from the rest of society. For a public figure, this was especially tragic.

Then someone told Naaman that there was a prophet named Elisha who could cure him of his illness. Naaman traveled to the land of Israel to find this prophet and seek to be healed.

When Naaman arrived at Elisha’s house, the prophet didn’t come out to greet his visitor. Instead, he sent a servant to inform Naaman that he was to submerge himself seven times in the Jordan River in order to be healed.

Naaman was outraged! Not only had the prophet not received him personally, but the holy man had the gall to suggest that Naaman dirty himself in the filthy waters of Israel. If Naaman needed a bath, he could use one of Syria’s mighty rivers.

Servants convinced the military man that he had nothing to lose by trying what the prophet had told him. Naaman swallowed his pride and went to the Jordan. He went down one time, two times, three times… and when he came up the seventh time, his skin was clear. He was healed! (You can read the whole story in the fifth chapter of 2 Kings)

I’m like Naaman at times. God wants me to do what? He wants me to go where? That doesn’t even make sense!

God’s instructions don’t always make sense. Love my enemies? Don’t worry about tomorrow? Eat bread and drink wine to remember His Son? Submerge myself in water in order to be cleansed?

At some point, we have to decide who is going to rule our lives. Will it be God? Or will it be common sense? Will God tell me what’s right and wrong? Or will logic be my guide?

Am I willing to have faith that God is good enough, wise enough and powerful enough to do what’s best for me?

Today I want to encourage you to trust God, to build your life around Him, even when you can’t understand every detail of what is going on. Follow God, even when He doesn’t make sense.

Elijah had gone to the mountain looking for God.

He’d been ready to give up. Ready to lie down and die. He saw no hope, no future, no point in going on.

Then an angel told him to go to the mountain. And Elijah was there, waiting for God. But he didn’t know what to expect.

A powerful wind came, ripping apart the very rocks that made up the mountain. Surely this was God! But no, God wasn’t in that wind.

Next there came an earthquake. As Elijah felt the very mountain tremble, he must have been certain that this was God revealing himself. But no, God wasn’t in the earthquake.

After the earthquake came a fire. Again Elijah looked for God. But God wasn’t in the fire.

Then came what the King James Version translates as “a still, small voice.” A whisper. A barely audible murmur with a question on its breath: “What are you doing here?” (1 Kings 19:12–13)

Elijah poured out his tale of woe, telling of his faithfulness to God compared with the unfaithfulness of the people around him. He told of the queen’s persecution of God’s prophets and her specific efforts to kill him. He explained to God that no else was faithful, not even one. Only Elijah was left.

That’s when God explained to Elijah that he couldn’t see the whole picture. That God was doing things that Elijah didn’t know about. That God had plans in motion, some of which included Elijah. And there were still six thousand people faithful to God that Elijah wasn’t aware of.

Have you ever reached that point where dying seemed to make more sense than living? The extreme of frustration and hopelessness that leaves you doubting whether God Himself can fix your problems?

Maybe you need to go to the mountain. Go looking for God. Don’t expect hurricanes or earthquakes. Don’t expect to be swept in a holy fire. Listen for the still, small voice. Listen for the question: “What are you doing here?”

And once you’ve poured out your heartaches and your fears, you may just find that God is doing things you don’t know about, both in your life and the lives of others.

But you’ll never see it, if you don’t look for Him.

It’s awkward isn’t it? “Happy Thanksgiving” no longer applies. “Survive Black Friday” doesn’t seem appropriate because you did. And since it’s the last day of November it’s a bit early to say “Merry Christmas”. So we’re stuck with “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays”.

Historically the busiest day for buying Christmas presents is the Saturday before Christmas and the second is Christmas Eve. This year both of those fall on Saturday, December 24.

So my suggestion is that we greet each other with “Survive Christmas Frenzy time”.

It seems easy to lose Jesus amid the hurry and scurry of finding that perfect present and the varied activities of celebrating the season. It’s easy to reduce Him to a catch phrase, “the reason for the season!!”

Yet, He IS the reason for the season. His birth was heralded as welcome to the Savior of the world. And through Him we have the promise of life forever with God Almighty.

For there’s born to you this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you: You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. Luke 2:11-14

So maybe we should say to each other, “Thank God for Jesus.”

So what do you think?

In the United States, we’re celebrating Thanksgiving this week. For most, it’s a pleasant time shared with family and friends. There are sporting events and parades. Lots of stores use this time to kick off the holiday shopping season. And there’s usually plenty to eat!

And once in a while, we even remember to be thankful.

There’s lots of reasons to give thanks. It doesn’t always seem that way, but if we put our mind to it, we can usually think of more reasons for being thankful than for complaining.

In the Bible, there’s a beautiful piece of Hebrew poetry that expresses one man’s thankfulness to God. The author talks about blessings like health, rescue from enemies and material goods. He also talks about spiritual blessings, like God’s justice in this world.

In my favorite section of this poem, the author talks about the greatest blessing of all:

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)

I love that imagery. “As far as the east is from the west.” All of my mistakes, all of my failings, all of my sin… God has taken it all away. So far away that it can never be connected with me again. “As far as the east is from the west.”

I don’t know what you’re thankful for this year. I’m thankful that God is slow to anger and quick to forgive. I’m thankful that He treats me with mercy, not harsh justice. I’m thankful that He forgives all of my sins, giving me a fresh start every day.

Be thankful for that as well. God’s forgiveness is available to you, just as it is to me, just as it was to that Hebrew poet so many years ago. Receive His forgiveness and be thankful. I’d love to tell you how.

How many people actually listen to the safety demonstration on an airplane? Nobody thinks that their plane is actually going to be involved in a crash. Besides, if you fly very often, you’ve heard the same spiel dozens of times. It almost seems like a waste of time.

Everybody knows how to fasten and unfasten their seatbelt, right? That seems like a pointless part of the demonstration. Maybe not; a study by the British Civil Aviation Authority revealed that an average of 6% of passengers get delayed by seatbelt problems during an evacuation.

Every safety demonstration discusses what to do if the plane has to make a water landing, but in the 2009 U.S. Airways landing on the Hudson River, only about half took a seat cushion for floatation and only 10 of 150 passengers thought to grab a life jacket. They’d heard the briefing, but hadn’t really listened.

Experts say that even a half-second delay in an emergency can mean the difference between life and death, yet few of us pay attention to the very information that can save our lives. We don’t value the information until we really need it.

I can’t help but feel that we treat God the same way. We’re vaguely aware that He’s there, we know that we really ought to learn more about Him, but we don’t take the trouble to do so.

Until we find ourselves in an emergency.

Then we wish we knew Him better. We wish we knew more about how to pray. We wish we were more confident about knowing what He expects of us and how we should behave towards Him.

My suggestion is not to wait until that crisis hits. Take the time to learn about God. Connect with people who know Him and can guide you. Learn the basics about Bible study, then make reading the Bible a part of your daily routine. Start talking to God on a regular basis… there’s no better way to learn about prayer than by doing it.

Connecting with God is easier than inflating a life vest or opening an emergency exit on a plane. And the rescue He offers lasts forever.

The sex was good, the rival eliminated, the baby bump was beginning to show and the whispers and gossip were flying. Then with a point of an aged finger and words that must have caused his head and heart to quake, “you are that man” everyone knew.

From the smug smile that flashed, “I’ve got this under control”, to the horrible realization that he was an adulterer, murderer, deceiver, liar, and betrayer, his world was reduced to the cesspool of reality that he was drowning in.

At that moment only the answers to two questions mattered. What does God say you should do? Are you going to do it?

What appears to be a script for a movie or TV show is a story from ancient times, sadly acted out over and over in the centuries since.

David, second king of Israel, had it all and lost it when lust controlled him. It is then that he answers those two most fundamental of questions. His answer can be read in the 51st Psalm.

Have mercy upon me, Oh God, according to Your loving kindness; according to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

David betrayed God, asked for forgiveness and is granted it, yet David still suffered the consequences of that sin (two of his sons die). In spite of all this both the prophet Samuel and Luke describe David as a man after God’s own heart.

If there was forgiveness for David, then there is nothing you can do that God can’t forgive!

Those two questions remain for you to answer. What does God say you should do? and Are you going to do it?

Which of those two is the hardest to answer?

It’s said that the opening of a book is extremely important. The writer needs to engage his readers from the outset, filling them with a desire to read more.

When the apostle Matthew sat down to write the story of Jesus, I’m not sure that he was thinking about that. The first 14 verses of his book are a genealogy. This man was the father of that man, who was the father of some other guy. It’s not the most exciting reading for most of us.

As we read through this list of fathers and sons, there are four names that ought to catch our attention. Four women made this list: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bath-Sheba. Over forty men are listed and only four women.

So these women must be especially righteous, especially virtuous women, right? They are included in the genealogy of Jesus, showing the people God used to bring His Son into the world. We would expect these women to be the examples of what women should be.

But that’s not the case. One of them dressed up as a prostitute and seduced her own father-in-law. One of them WAS a prostitute. Another committed adultery, got pregnant, and married the father of that child after her own husband was murdered. The other was fairly righteous, but she was also a foreigner. The Jews weren’t supposed to marry foreigners, so she shouldn’t even be on this list.

But these names are here. These women are remembered, while other women have been long forgotten. Matthew had his reasons, and I won’t pretend to know exactly what they were.

But I know that there is a lesson here: God can use anybody. Even when they’ve made mistakes. Even when they’ve been taken advantage of. Even when they don’t come from the right family. God can use anybody.

That message is fitting for the story of Jesus. Jesus came and made it possible for everyone to be acceptable to God. He broke down barriers, creating a new nation made up of people from every nation of this world. The story of Jesus is a story of inclusion.

I can be a part. You can be a part. Everyone who is willing to truly put their faith in Jesus can be a part.