Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life.  Proverbs 13:12

Have you ever felt hopeless?  As the passage above says, hopelessness makes the heart sick and the world becomes a very dark place.  When I first became ill, that was very true in my life.  The pain I was enduring was relentless and creating a sense of fear and dread in our family.  The anxiety and uncertainty that it produced were intolerable.  If that wasn’t enough, I couldn’t reconcile God’s love with my illness.  I certainly didn’t see how any part of it could be working to my good, or to God’s glory.  Further, the Christians in my life at the time focused on my physical wellbeing, but never asked about my soul and did not attempt to present God’s spiritual truths that might apply.  As a result, I greatly desired my death.  Honestly, I desired it more for my wife and children than for myself.  As much as I wanted the pain and frustration to stop, I was most concerned about the damage that my illness and my inability to handle it were doing to them.  Daily I begged God to end my life.  In short, I was hopeless and my hopelessness was creating an adverse atmosphere in our home.  Thankfully it did not end there.  Eventually I learned to manage my illness somewhat, we became part of a church body that sought God’s will in all things and surrounded us with those who encouraged us in our faith, and the passage of time gave me the confidence that I could make peace with my circumstances.  However, the greatest change came when the word of God and the impact of Christians seeking to encourage me on a spiritual level invaded my illness and helped me to see that God had purpose in my pain and that it truly would work for my good and, more importantly, for the glory of God.  While I still struggle with the frustrations that come with living in a fallen world, it is the contrast between those dark days and the change that came with truth of scripture and the promises of God that keeps me going, points me to God and gives me hope.  One of the things that we celebrate as a part of the Christmas season is the hope that we have…hope in our God, hope in the salvation the Christ provides, and the hope of eternity.

As we look at the whole of scripture, we see the gradual revelation of who God is and His plan for the redemption of His fallen creation.  While the Old Testament certainly speaks of Christ in prophecy and alludes to God’s triune nature, it generally refers to God with names such as Jehovah…that is, in the singular.  As God is revealed throughout the various books, we learn of His attributes and how they provide certainty that He is more than capable to act as our protector and to supply our strength.  He is the one who loves us, sustains us, and watches over us.  We realize His immense love for us and how He truly desires nothing but the best for us.  We understand that when we develop a relationship with Him and seek to serve Him faithfully and obey His precepts, we are securely established.  These truths and God’s promises are not only the foundation of our hope, but they also encourage us in difficult times for we know that God is with us, sustaining us and caring for us throughout every circumstance of our life.  He will not leave us or forsake us.  It is the solid footing of our relationship with Him that continually pulls us back to Him and stabilizes us when life batters us about.  It is this hope in God that gives us the strength to rise again, continue and endure with grace in this life.

While our focus at this time of the year is on the arrival of Christ…God with us, our celebration is not complete unless we also look to His sacrifice, for it is the salvation of Christ that gives us the hope of righteousness…of being redeemed.  Through Christ’s teaching and the further explanation provided in the New Testament by His disciples, we learn the broader picture with respect full character of God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) as well as the plan for our salvation.  His sacrifice shows us the depth of God’s love for us and eliminates the barrier of sin to perfect our relationship with Him.  Our sacrifice in yielding to Him and surrendering our will to God’s reflect the depth of our love for Him, strengthens our relationship with Him and opens the door for the our further refinement and sanctification.  The hope of Christ our Savior, Redeemer and King as well as what He has done and continues to do for us is the second hope that we celebrate at Christmastime.

Finally, there is the hope of eternity:  the hope that we will one day stand before our God and receive the righteousness of Christ; the hope that we will be completely released from the effects of sin in the world; the hope that we will know and be fully known; the hope of receiving the rewards for serving Him and enduring throughout this life; and most significantly, the hope of seeing God in all His glory and abiding with Him.  The hope of eternity is the third hope that we celebrate.

In the prophecies regarding Christ we see two pictures: the suffering servant and the victorious king.  The Jews in Christ’s time misunderstood the prophecy and wanted the Messiah to come and reestablish the kingdom of Israel on earth rather than looking to the greater spiritual picture and, therefore, despised the suffering servant and crucified Him.  I fear that we too make a similar mistake.  Our hope fades because we want to be relieved of our physical suffering rather than looking to the grander picture that exists in the spiritual realm.  During His time on earth, Christ relieved the suffering of some, but not all.  The same is true now as God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  God is all powerful and is able to heal and to save.  However, the greater miracle is the way the He sustains us in difficult circumstances, redeems all of our trials and errors, gives us a testimony in adversity and gives us a spirit of thanksgiving and praise despite dismal circumstances.  This is the power of God at work in our lives; this is the power that breathes hope into our souls, fulfills our desire and allows us to flourish as a tree of life deeply rooted and well nourished.  As we celebrate the incarnation of Christ, let us celebrate the hope of God, the hope of Christ and the Hope of eternity allowing this hope to invade our souls, fulfill it and strengthen so that we may rely on it as we face the various trials of our lives that are yet to come.

How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God.

Will