Tidbits for Thought

HOLY HOPE

Isaiah 40:31 “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew

their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles,

they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not

faint.” Over two thousand years ago, our Lord Jesus

screamed into the blackness of an ugly Friday, “My God,

my God, why have you forsaken me?” … a plaintive,

heartfelt yet brutally honest question that each of us have

probably screamed or shouted or whimpered into the

heavens at one point or another in our lives here on a fallen

planet. The very fact that those words were uttered by Jesus

while He was hanging on a cross, should let each of us know

that we are not alone in our hurt, our grief, and our

questions. After that eventful Friday, came a Sunday when

the beautiful and angelic words, “He is not here, He is

risen,” gave eternal and holy hope to a suffering world. One

of the greatest gifts that God has given us is the gift of hope

that anchors the soul and illuminates the path that leads to

light. All of the promises scattered throughout Scripture are

designed for one thing….to inspire hope. Hope, coupled

with faith, gives us the ability to look at any situation and

know that regardless of how bleak and impossible it may

appear, God is in control and is present in our lives at all

times. This is the very essence and bedrock of holy hope. In

the ebb and flow of human life we all have those dark and

frightening Fridays…. Fridays that may seem dark and

hopeless and endless. Yet no matter the depth of our grief….

the pain of our loss…. the hurt of our betrayal…. the torture

of our rejection…. the weight of our burdens…. the darkness

of our depression…. we have the hope and the faith that our

Sunday will eventually arrive. God has given us many

things, both spiritual and physical to remind us that He is in

control and that eventually the hope of Sunday will arrive. In

the physical world, He gives us the light of a sunrise each

and every day to chase away the darkness. He shows us

through the timeless movements of the tide that some things

never change. He shows us through the ever-changing

seasons that there is a time for everything. He shows us by

the birth of a baby that the hope of humanity is alive. He

shows us through the softness of a snowflake the gentleness

of His nature and through an avalanche of those very

snowflakes His mighty power. He shows us the rainbow

after the storm as an eternal promise. In the spiritual world,

He gave us the power of prayer to communicate our

challenges, our fears, our hopes, our dreams, and our

gratitude. He gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide us,

convict us and give us focus. He gave us the never changing

truths of Scripture to encourage us……sustain

us……nourish us….and give us a holy hope that is eternal.

Think about it!      ~ Aron Smith