Yesterday I started to write a post about hope but found myself stuck after the first paragraph. I have been so moved by the events of the past few weeks, I wanted to write something that would give hope in this present darkness. It is easy to feel hopeless as the people of West Africa are dying of Ebola, as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas, and as religious minorities are being slaughtered by the militant Islamic group, Isis. I left my writing, not knowing where to go with it. I was at a loss for words.
Writing is a funny process. As in any creative endeavor, one must start and then push through to open up the revelation of the mind. Inspiration comes from within and without. It comes from things I see, things I hear and memories long buried in the recesses of my mind. But then there is the inexplicable, mysterious insight that suddenly comes out of nowhere. This is God. I know it without a doubt. There are thoughts that come out of my pen (or the keyboard of my computer) that are not from me.
Inspiration comes from taking God in like a breath through his word, his people and his Spirit and letting him flow forth. Like breathing in and breathing out.
This is hope that God is as close as the air I breathe. I inspire his oxygen and it travels to every cell of my body, giving life, energy and sustenance. When all else is stripped away through persecution, disaster and death, he is still there within me.
Paul, to the church in Rome, asks: “Who therefore shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
How can we be separated from the air we breath if that air is the Spirit of God? We can’t. No matter what happens whether good or bad, he stands with us through it. Our hope cannot be based on external situations because the world as it is will always disappoint us. Our hope is based on that which cannot be changed, the loving nature of God.
My heart and prayers go out to the suffering people on the other side of the earth and right here at home. We will all have trouble, no matter who we are. It takes different forms but suffering is universal. None of us is immune from it. But my deepest prayer is that all those going through pain whatever it might be, will know that God is as close as their very breath. Inspire/inhale his presence and hope and peace will envelope your heart and mind. You will be “more than conquerors” through any trouble that comes your way.
