When Hope Looks Foolish
[bl]I[/bl]f we’re going to the people and places Jesus went, then we will find ourselves face to face with what seems like hopeless situations. An impoverish continent of drought and famine, malnourished children, and dying parents who leave behind orphans with a grim future. An entire people group drowning in consumerism, suffering from a deep disconnection from the land, and placing false hope in treasures of the earth. Countless individuals self destructing with drugs to numb pain and escape reality. A generation of children raised in a virtual world, held captive by screens.
How do you begin to help any one of these situations? The brokenness of the land and the consequences of sin are so deep and wide that it’s hard for the human mind to grasp the possibility of redemption, let alone the way forward. The temptation is to throw up our hands in hopeless defeat. We avoid the sin and pain in our own families. We turn a naive eye to the reality just thirty minutes south. Or we convince ourselves that it’s not our responsibility to help the suffering across the ocean.
I absolutely love people who run to desperate situations with their confidence, faith and loving hands. Who hope in the Father and expect him to meet them in the places they are going. The places that need him.
Because most of us are confronted with opportunities that call for true mercy and we see the need for help but we doubt the possibilities. Or we fear it will be burdensome or harmful. Or we predict a human outcome rather than a divine intervention.
Because what our human eyes see is sin. Overwhelming, impossible sin.
How is that living faithful to God’s promise of redemption?
I look to the Psalms for hope.
If you, LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, so that we can, with reverence, serve you. I wait for the LORD, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope…Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins. (130:3-8)
I want to grow into a person who waits on the Lord. Patiently waits for his unfailing love to make a difference in situations that seem without hope. I want to believe with my whole heart that the promises for Israel are promises for all those wanting to be delivered from sin. Because if I believe it, I will receive people and all their sin with great hope for full redemption.
But if I don’t believe, why try at all? Surely my unbelief will only hinder. May God help me to see desperate situations like he does. For he doesn’t look at us and see first our sin. He sees the hope for which we were created. He sees everything about us.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth – he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save.
I pause to consider all the man made structures of power and health, the methods of healing and restoration in which we quickly place our hope.
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those who hope in his unfailing love to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. May your unfailing love be with us, LORD, even as we put our hope in you. (33:12-22)
May God give us the courage to believe with an unwavering spirit that he will do what he says he will do. Let us have the faith to join him in his redemptive work. Not only give money to it, not just pray about it – really join him. Entering into the sin and pain of others with the hope that full redemption is possible. Just like his word says. And even when sin seems more powerful than the Spirit. Let us go. Let us receive. Let us help. Let us invite. Let us serve. And all the time believing the outcome will bring glory to God.
This hope might look foolish to some. So be it. Let that not discourage us from trying. From hoping in God alone. From believing that all things are possible through Christ.
