Hope for Life Blog

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.

There’s an amazing story about Jesus and a man named Jairus. Jairus was a religious leader, one of the rulers of the Jewish synagogue. At that time, that would have made him unlikely to go see someone like Jesus. But Jairus went.

He went because his daughter was very sick. He went because he was desperate. He went because he considered Jesus to be his only hope.

Jairus was able to convince Jesus to come to his house. But while they were on the way, someone came with terrible news: Jairus’ daughter was dead. All hope was now gone. Or so Jairus must have thought.

But Jesus thought otherwise. He said to the grieving father: “Don’t be afraid; just believe, and she will be healed.” (Luke 8:50)

When they arrived at Jairus’ house, people were standing outside, crying. Jesus told them: “She is not dead but asleep.” They laughed at him, because everyone knew she was dead.

Except Jesus. That is, he knew she was dead. But he also knew that she wouldn’t stay that way. Jesus went to the girl, took her by the hand, and told her to get up. And the young girl did!

It’s a beautiful story. As a father, I guess I hear it differently than I once did. I can imagine if my daughter were desperately ill, how hopeless I would feel. And I don’t even want to try and imagine how I would feel if she passed away.

But I know that Jesus’ words would ring in my ears: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.”

More than 80 times in the Bible, people are told “Don’t be afraid.” Fear is a common element of our human condition. And there’s probably no greater fear than the fear of death. One New Testament writer wrote that Jesus came to “free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” (Hebrews 2:15)

As we find ourselves facing the imminent death of someone we love or even our own death, that’s the time we need to hear Jesus’ words: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Because even when the worst happens, Jesus can say, “They’re not dead but asleep.” He is able to take even the dead by the hand and wake them up. If we only believe.

Don’t be afraid. Just believe.

I was helping clean up my sister-in-law’s yard after a recent wind storm when it happened.  The neighbor’s dog got me.  I knew he was not happy with the chain saw, the activity, and the work going on.  After all, he kept barking at us.  I was carrying a load of wood to the back gate, walking about one foot inside the fence.  All of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I catch a glimpse of this dog trying to jump over the fence.  As I jumped sideways, he managed to extend his head over the fence and catch my arm.

There was not any lasting damage.  My arm was swollen and stayed bruised for a couple of weeks.  The dog was as surprised as I was.  My father-in-law worried about whether the dog should have gotten shots.  Ha, ha.  The neighbors were apologetic.  The yard got cleaned up, and we all stayed several feet away from the fence.

And I thought about how much like life this was.

We all know there are dangerous things in this world.  There is war, crime, and evil.  People steal, lie, gossip, and murder in our world.  We just do not expect it to happen to us.  Until it does.  Tornados, fires, hurricanes, and tsunamis occur around the globe.  We assume those things happen to other people, not us.  Until it does.  We even know intellectually that people get sick, sometimes even sick enough that they die.  We just do not think it will happen to us.  Until it does.

Hard things, bad things, tough things happen.  They happen unexpectedly.  Sometime it is our fault.  Sometimes it is someone else’s fault.  Sometimes it is no one’s fault.  Life happens.  Life goes on.  So how do we cope?  How do we survive?  How do we find hope, peace, joy, and purpose in a world like this?

I have found the answer in God, and so have millions of others throughout the ages.  He will get me through anything this life throws at me.  He has, and He will.  He gives my life hope, peace, joy, and purpose.  And He gives me life forever.  He has done this through His Son Jesus. 

Blessings,

steve

“Thou hast conquered, O pale Galilean; the world has grown grey from thy breath.” Maybe you recognize this line from “Hymn to Proserpine” by Algernon Charles Swinburne; I remember reading the poem in a high school English course.

Swinburne, living in Victorian England, felt that Christian piety had sucked the joy out of life, forbidding the very things that bring pleasure to life. He longed for the days of unbridled paganism.

Sadly, Swinburne wasn’t the first person to feel that way about Christianity, nor was he the last. Many look at Christians and see a somber lot, living a life filled with prohibitions. As the old line says, “Everything enjoyable is either illegal, immoral or fattening.”

When you look at Jesus Christ himself, you see something very different. People looked at him and complained that he didn’t follow enough rules. He went to parties with the wrong kind of people. Where other religious men lived ascetic lives, Jesus lived in a way that people accused him of being a glutton and a drunkard. The first recorded miracle that he performed involved providing wine for a marriage feast! Does that sound like a “pale Galilean”?

No! It’s we Christians who have misunderstood what we’re supposed to be. It’s easy to think that saying no to everything is the best way to be holy. Even back in Bible times, this was a problem. The apostle Paul wrote to one church: “Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?” (Colossians 2:20-21) Even then, some thought that Christians were following a pale Galilean.

In his book A Severe Mercy, Sheldon Vanuaken wrote:

“The best argument for Christianity is Christians: their joy, their certainty, their completeness. But the strongest argument against Christianity is also Christians—when they are somber and joyless, when they are self-righteous and smug in complacent consecration, when they are narrow and repressive, then Christianity dies a thousand deaths.”

If you think that Christianity is about living like a pale Galilean, you haven’t been exposed to real Christianity. The Christian life is a life of joy, not sadness. It is a life of victory, not defeat. It is a life full of passion, not boredom.

Like Swinburne, I have no interest in following a pale Galilean. Unlike Swinburne, I know that Jesus Christ offers abundant life, colorful life, zestful life. Isn’t that what we’d all like to have?

There was an old country doctor who would take his dog along with him when visiting patients. The dog would remain outside while the doctor went in for the house call.

On one occasion, the physician went to the home of a man with a terminal disease who didn’t seem to have much time to live. The man confessed to the doctor his fears about death and said, “What’s it like when you die?”

The doctor thought for a moment, then got up and opened the front door. His loyal canine friend, who had been waiting patiently on the porch, gleefully bounded in to join his master.

The doctor turned to the dying man and said, “Do you see this dog? He didn’t have any idea what was on this side of that door. All he knew was that his master was there, and he wanted to be with him.”

“That’s how I feel about death,” the physician continued. “I don’t really know all the whats and hows about dying. I’m not totally sure what’s on the other side of that door. But I know who is there, and that’s enough for me. I’m looking forward to being with my Master.”

Death can be a frightening thing. There is so much uncertainty. There are a lot of things I just don’t know.

Some claim to be able to explain everything that will happen when we die. I’m not one of those people. I don’t know a lot of things about death.

Some debate what life after death will be like. I don’t join those discussions. I don’t know all the details about what will happen when I die.

I do know who is waiting for me. I do know that I will leave this world to be with Jesus. That’s enough knowledge for me.

The apostle John wrote: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) We don’t know what we will be, but we will be like him. And we will be with him.

You don’t have to be afraid of what’s on the other side of the door. You can focus on who is on the other side of the door. Isn’t that a better way to approach the end of our life here on earth?

The question is always blunt, direct, personal, and demanding. Once asked, it must be answered. The challenge, once made, requires a response validating your position. The question is not politically correct and the answer offers no public relations subtleties.

“How do you know?” How do you know God is real? How do you know there is a heaven or hell? And maybe the most important question of all, how do you know you’re going to heaven?

To answer those How do you know? questions, scripture says: “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed.” I Peter 3:15-16

This is one of those interesting human dilemmas that we feel trapped by. When we try to explain how we know, there is a fear that others will interrogate us as to why we made such a dreadfully poor decision. Yet look at the words. It says we are to give a reason for our faith. It’s not a debate to prove whose reasons are best; it’s not a dictate that everyone believes exactly the same on every subject; and it’s not collective wisdom. It’s why you, personally and individually, believe. How did you come to those conclusions?

When we stand before God Almighty at the final judgment, it will only be you and Jesus who have to answer for you. The opinions, beliefs and choices of others will not be admissible.

So, how DO YOU know? Tell me what you know and more importantly, how you know it……..