I Hope . . .

What a beautiful day! Most springs offer many of these days, but this year has been different. This year the days have been mostly cloudy and often rainy. You know, farmers get very nervous when it gets to the middle of May and nothing is done in the fields.

While I watch the Weather Channel, I find it noteworthy that life just keeps on happening, day after day (and I’m grateful for that) and like the dark days and sunny days, our days bring good news and bad. Sometimes I read blogs and notes about people who have everything going well in their lives. I marvel at that. I would say that I have more going well than going badly, but if my world is large, I see that someone is struggling, someone is sad, someone is lonely, and they need encouragement. In that larger world, fortunately, someone is laughing, someone is seeing the answer to prayers, and someone is happily reaching out to others. They, too, need encouragement.

It reminds me of the verse, “through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” That’s what we need—encouragement and hope! We heard a lot about hope during the presidential election. Both parties offered us hope, however, neither offered a lasting hope through the scriptures, a permanent hope from God. I wish all of our leaders would seek God for guidance as our founding fathers seem to have done.

Looking at the condition of our economy, our nation, and our world, I see a lot of un-hope. We need supernatural help to realize enduring hope for the future. The bible tells in Jeremiah “I know, O LORD, that a man's life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps.” I love how it says that in The Message: “I know, God, that mere mortals can't run their own lives; that men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.” I have to stand and shout “Amen” to Jeremiah. We just can’t see the big picture well enough to rule the nation or the world or our own lives.

Nevertheless, perhaps that’s the best place for us to be. Perhaps we need to not look to the mountains or to chariots or horses, but to God where our help indeed comes from—to stand up and lift up our heads, because our deliverance is getting closer. I think that is the essence of faith, to see those things that seem not to be as though they are.

That is my hope: that God will intervene in all those situations that need a huge dose of hope and supernatural power. I hope further, that he will send us encouragement in every area of our lives.

And, I hope it doesn’t rain too much in the next few weeks so the farmers can get the crops in the ground and will benefit from the rains that I hope will come later. May we have a wonderful harvest of all kinds!