Hope

Hope of Victory

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But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ                       1 Corinthians 15:57 ESV

Sometimes when we are facing a crisis the whisper comes in the dark of night that there is no longer any hope. We feel like a rowboat caught in the tidal wave of serious illness, family turmoil or the death of a loved one. That is exactly the situation which the disciples faced as they accompanied Jesus to the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus had asked them to pray with him for one hour but the Bible tells us that

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And when He rose from prayer He came to the disciples and found them sleeping for sorrow. Luke 22:45

They were overcome by sorrow, but not their master. Jesus had prayed till His sweat fell like drops of blood. Jesus had continued interceding even when they felt defeated. In the same way He is interceding in heaven for you and I today. Neither our sorrow nor our despair will cause Him to abandon us. He will come and awaken us. He will carry our burdens. He chose in that dark garden to pay the full price for our sin to give us hope. It is that hope which lies behind the cry:

O Grave where is your victory? Death where is your sting? 1 Corinthians 15:55

All The Things He Can

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During the last week of my Dad’s life I learned more from him than all the years before. The reality of God’s love reflected in his concern for my getting meals even though he only received his through a tube. He worried I was missing sleep at a time that he spent his night in the ICU. Most of all, dad loved having me and his nurse read the Bible to him. And that week he often quoted his favorite verse

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Those last seven days with my dad along with his verse helped carry me through the sorrow threatened to overwhelm me with his death. Just after the death of Jesus it was the same for His disciples, His family and especially His mother. They hardly dared to recall the joy of those last three years seeing lepers cleansed, storms calmed and the dead raised. All that changed the night of the betrayal by Judas. That was followed by the arrest and false charges by the religious leaders. Finally the Romans sentenced Jesus to be crucified between two criminals and die a horrible and degrading death.

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But in the pre-dawn of hours of the third day everything changed. The stone sealing the grave had been rolled away. The women who came early to the tomb were met with men in white clothing who told them that the Lord was not there – He had risen. The bitterness and loss that they felt was quickly replaced by wonder and new faith as they encountered the risen Christ. Once we have invited this same risen Lord Jesus to rule our hearts we will discover that our lives are no longer defined by the many things we cannot do but by all the things He can!

 

Complaint Department – Upstairs

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But he gave him no answer, not even to a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed    Matthew 27:14 ESV

I have a small confession to make. Some days I love to complain. I complain about the weather. I complain about my church, my kids and even my wife. Some nights as I lay my head on the pillow and replay the whiny remarks which I made I wonder how I could have been so unkind and wish I had kept my lips sealed.

Jesus on the other hand had no shortage of things to complain about. But on the worst day of his short life, Jesus encouraged a thief; made sure His mother was taken care of and forgave His enemies. How could He do that? What was His secret?

Some years ago I was bringing a truckload of branches to our local landfill. At the entrance was a one story cement block booth with an attendant who checked each vehicles weight. As I pulled up to get our weigh-in slip, I saw there by the side of the operator’s window a small sign with an arrow pointed up stating, “Complaint department upstairs!”

How can we be patient like Jesus, when others mistreat or abuse us physically or verbally? The answer is in knowing where the complaint department is located. Telling our neighbors, our family or our enemies the way we feel won’t help. Our only response is to quietly trust that our cry is heard by the only one who can deliver us. Then in the same way that Jesus did we can give ourselves into the hands of the one who loved us and gave His life for ours.

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