Category: Hope

Renewing our sense of hope

“22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

The prophet Jeremiah is mourning God’s severe judgment of Jerusalem which had departed from Him, bringing much devastation and destruction (Lam. 1-2). In the midst of his anguish and heartbreak (3:1-20), Jeremiah expresses his hope in the Lord (3:21). “22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (3:22-23). Had it not been for “the Lord’s mercies,” the nation of Israel would have been “consumed” and no longer existed as a nation. Because God’s “compassions” never fail even when His people are unfaithful, they can have a renewed sense of hope “every morning.” Since God’s “faithfulness” to His promises is “great,” His people can have a renewed sense of faithfulness to their loyal God.

What about you? Do you feel that God is being unfair to you in the midst of your struggles? Have you lost hope as you watch our country move farther away from the Lord and His ways? Do you believe the Lord is judging His church in America by giving it a lack of influence and a lack of sensitivity to the Spirit’s leading? Is your heart filled with anguish and a lack of hope?

Listen to the voice of truth in Lamentations 3:22-23 and let the Holy Spirit apply it to the depths of your being. “22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23 They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” God’s “mercies” withhold the judgment and condemnation that would normally consume you. His “compassions” (empathy, kindness, gentleness) never fail. He understands your vulnerabilities and weaknesses and still loves you just as you are. The Lord’s mercies and compassions are “new every morning,” giving you a renewed sense of hope that today God is going to bless you. Why? Because His “faithfulness” is “great” toward you in Jesus Christ (I Cor. 1:9), and is not dependent upon your performance. Soak up God’s mercies, compassions, and faithfulness, and He will fill you with unending hope!

Prayer: Lord God Almighty, I pray You would wake me up each morning making me fully aware of Your mercies, compassions, and faithfulness so that I will turn to You when I am hurting and insecure. Make me sensitive to the fact that Your mercies withhold the judgment and condemnation that I deserve so that I will continue to be open and honest with You even when I fail. Renew my mind to the truth that says Your compassions undertand my vulnerabilities and weaknesses so that I will not hide anything from You. And help me believe that Your faithfulness is great toward me in Christ so that I will be more faithful to You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

What can I do as the world gets worse?

“O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You!” Psalm 84:12

With at least 31 people killed in mass shootings in Texas and Ohio last weekend, you may ask yourself, “What can I do as the world gets worse?” I would recommend you turn to Psalm 84 to discover the answer to that question.

In this Psalm, the writer describes the blessedness of those who dwell in “the house” (temple) of God (84:1-4). As those who long to worship the Lord in His temple journey to that place (84:5), they find more and more spiritual “strength” and refreshment even though they may pass through arid regions (“the Valley of Baca”) that others found to be disappointing and draining (85:6-7). During their travels to the house of God, they prayed for their king (“our shield” and “Your anointed”) (84:8-9). Their longing to go to the temple is because “a day” in God’s presence (“Your courts”) “is better than a thousand” days “in the tents of wickedness” (84:10). 

Instead of encountering the influence of the wicked in God’s temple, they experienced “the Lord God” Who is like “a sun” that gives warmth and light. God is also like a “shield” Who protects them from harm (84:11a). The Lord gives “grace and glory” to them, withholding “no good thing” from them (84:11b). The wicked, however, are the opposite of the Lord. Instead of providing warmth and light, they are hateful (cold) and full of darkness. Instead of protecting the worshippers from harm, they seek to dish out harm to them. Instead of giving grace and glory to others, they are ungracious and dishonoring toward them. The wicked do not give what is good to those who live uprightly, instead they repay them with evil. 

As we live in an increasingly evil world, we will discover renewed strength and refreshment as we draw near to the Lord God of hosts (84:1-7). The benefits of being near to the Lord far outweigh the evil that is growing stronger in the world (84:8-11). When we experience unspeakable joy in God’s presence, we can echo the words of the Psalmist, “O Lord of hosts, blessed is the man who trusts in You” (84:12)! 

Psalm 84 is telling us, “When everything is all wrong, Jesus can make everything alright. Draw near to Him because He is more than enough.”

Does God give me more than I can handle?

I remember hearing the assurance that God will not give us more than we can handle when Christians were talking about I Corinthians 10:13 when it says, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able.” But this is talking about temptations, not trials. 

The same author of I Corinthians 10:13, the apostle Paul, also wrote 2 Corinthians 1:8 which says, “For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life” (2 Corinthians 1:8). Notice that Paul says they were burdened beyond their own strength to the point of despair. Paul was in a situation where it seemed hopeless. Whatever he and his mission team were facing, was beyond their own resources to overcome. He felt God had put more on him than he or anyone on his mission team could handle.

Have you ever felt this way? That God has given you more than you can handle? That there is no way you can overcome this situation with your own resources? Your abilities and connections with others cannot rescue you from the hopelessness you are facing? You are tempted to give up because you cannot escape this place of despair? 

Why does God permit this to happen to us? Is He being unloving to us when He allows us to have more than we can handle? Paul also explains why God gives us more than we can handle in 2 Corinthians 1:9,“Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” God does give us more than we can handle so “that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” What God wants to do in these hopeless situations is to teach us to depend more on Him than on ourselves or others. He wants to “raise the dead” for us. He longs to do what is humanly impossible for us to do. 

This is very difficult for us to accept because we do not like to sit in our pain. Our natural tendency is to withdraw from the pain. We try to avoid pain by turning to a quick fix such as alcohol, busyness, depression, drugs, romance, sarcasm, theology, or even ministry instead of turning to God. But these options only lead to more pain and hopelessness.

God did not originally create people to have to deal with pain. Pain was not Adam and Eve’s experience before the Fall (Genesis 1-2). They lived in a perfect environment and enjoyed perfect fellowship with God and one another because there was no sin and death. Before the Fall, all their needs were met by God in the Garden of Eden. But after the Fall (Genesis 3:1-6), there was a separation from God resulting in fear and shame (Genesis 3:7-10). Adam and Eve’s first response was to fix the pain and shame by covering themselves with fig leaves (Genesis 3:7). But this covering did not remove the effects of their sin. God had to do that when He “made tunics of skin” through the death of an innocent animal (Genesis 3:21). 

By providing a covering with animal skins, God provided forgiveness through the “shedding of blood” (Hebrews 9:22). God later provided forgiveness through the Old Testament sacrificial system which pointed ahead to the ultimate sacrifice of God’s perfect Son, Jesus Christ (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:23-10:25). Like that first animal that was sacrificed for Adam and Eve, Jesus Christ would also be innocent and without sin because He was and is God (John 1:1, 14, 17; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 4:15; I Peter 3:18). And like that first sacrificial animal, Jesus was born to die for the sins of others (John 1:29; Romans 5:8; I John 4:9), that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). 

Like Adam and Eve, we have a natural tendency to turn to other things to remove our pain. But God wants us to sit in our pain so we will draw closer to Him. If we do not sit in the pain, we do not need to go to God for comfort and strength. 

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Christ does not say to “Come to a religion or to your pastor, priest, parents, or peers.” No, He says, “Come to Me.” Nor does He say, “Come to Me and I will give you fear, guilt and shame.” No, Jesus says to come to Him in faith and He “will give you rest.” The rest Jesus offers here refers to a state of mind that exists when a non-Christian realizes he or she does not have to earn or work for their salvation. This refers to the positional rest of eternal life that is based on trusting in Christ’s accomplishment on the cross. 

If you do not know for sure that you have eternal life and will go to heaven when you die, accept Jesus’ invitation and come to Him just as you are for spiritual rest by believing in Jesus for His gift of eternal life (11:28; cf. John 3:16). Then He can give you the comfort and strength you need when you face more than you can handle.

If you have believed in Jesus for everlasting life, understand that there will be times when He gives you more than you can handle so you will learn to draw near to Him and depend on Him to do what you could never do on your own (2 Corinthians 1:8-9). He wants to take you deeper in your relationship with Him so you can experience His resurrection power. 

What do I do when I feel overwhelmed?

“When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” Psalm 61:2

When King David felt “overwhelmed” by his circumstances and feelings, he turned to the Lord (“Hear my cry, O God” – v. 1) to “lead” him to “the rock that is higher than” he was (61:2) because God had proven to be “a shelter” and “strong tower” for him in the past (61:3). A rock was a symbol of stability, security, and strength.

When we feel overwhelmed with life we may say to ourselves – “This is more than I can handle. I cannot go on.” What do we do in these situations? Where do we turn for help when we feel overwhelmed? Some of us may turn to a bottle of alcohol, a brief romantic relationship, a shopping spree, a busy schedule, or to a dark space in the corner of our minds to escape the overwhelming circumstances or feelings we are facing. 

This is not what King David did. David turned to the One who could lead him above his overwhelming circumstances and feelings and give him stability (“rock”), security (“shelter”), and strength (“strong tower”) instead (61:2-3). 

During my 20’s, God enabled me to climb several 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. Often times when I reached the 12,000-foot range, my head would be throbbing from altitude sickness and I would be overwhelmed with fatigue. The temptation for me at that point was to turn around and go back down the mountain. What helped me to keep going upward was focusing on the Lord and the next rock above me, remembering God’s faithfulness on past climbs to help me reach those summits.  

When we feel overwhelmed and we are tempted to give up, let’s do what David did, and look to the Lord to lead us to a secure place that we could never reach on our own. Recalling God’s faithfulness to be our “rock,” “shelter” and “strong tower” in the past, can increase our confidence in Him to be our stability, security and strength in the present. 

How can God restore my hope?

“Oh, send out Your light and Your truth! Let them lead me; let them bring me to Your holy hill and to Your tabernacle.” Psalm 43:3

The Psalmist had become discouraged (“cast down”) and restless (“disquieted”) within (43:5a) because the people of his “ungodly nation” had turned against him (43:1). He felt that God, Whom he relied on for strength in the past, had abandoned him (“Why do you cast me off?”) so that his “enemy” could oppress him (43:2). He prayed for God to “send out” His “light and … truth” to “lead” him back to Mt. Zion (“holy hill”) in Jerusalem to “praise” God there (43:3-4). He doesn’t ask God to lead him out of trouble but to lead him closer to the Lord. Instead of letting his feelings lead him into greater depths of despair, he chose to “hope in God” Who was “the help of” his “countenance” (43:5b). 

As I hear and read news report in the USA, it can be very discouraging to see our nation continue to turn against God and His values. When we face uncertain times as Christians, we may feel that God has abandoned us and our nation. We need to hear from God during these times because only the “light” (hope) of His “truth” (Word) can lead us closer to Him. Only God can give us a confident expectation of good in the future (“hope”) so that we can once again “praise Him.” God is “the help,” not the hurt, of our “countenance.” God lifts us up when we are discouraged, He does not put us down (cf. Matthew 12:20). 

When you know the truth (God says, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” – Hebrews 13:5) intellectually, but you do not experience it emotionally (“Why do you cast me off?” – Psalm 43:2), be honest with God in prayer about how you feel. Then listen to His voice of truth more than your feelings so He can be “the help of” your “countenance” and restore your “hope in Him.”  

Applying God’s Grace to Suicide

Living during a global pandemic makes it especially difficult to connect with one another. There is a great emphasis on social distancing. People cannot connect with one another as easily as before because of all the COVID restrictions and fear of getting sick. The additional stress caused by COVID increases the chance of conflict with others which can also become a barrier to connecting with one another. Emotional needs are much greater during this pandemic. There is more fear and depression which can lead people to isolate themselves from others. More people feel hopeless and think of taking their own lives.

A question that may arise during this pandemic is, “Will a believer in Jesus Christ who commits suicide still go to heaven?” The answer to this is strongly related to one’s view of God’s grace.

WHAT DOES GOD SAY ABOUT A BELIEVER WHO COMMITS SUICIDE?

In Romans 8:31-39, God answers four questions or accusations that can arise in cases of suicide:

1.MAN’S ACCUSATION: “Doesn’t such a death as suicide prove that God works against us, not for us? Isn’t this what prompts a believer to take his life?”

GOD’S ANSWER: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Romans 8:31-32) God says, “Since I am for you (and no one is greater than Me), no one can successfully oppose you, including yourself.” When the unexpected happens, you need to ignore the lie that God is against you. He is on your side. God does not work against us. How wrong it would be to believe that God turns His back on the believer who commits suicide. God is FOR US – on our side – deeply interested in our needs, our hurts, our pain, our failures and loneliness. 

Proof of this: God gave His Son to die for our sins, including the sin of suicide (Romans 8:32). 

2. MAN’S ACCUSATION: “Doesn’t the suicide of a Christian confirm the fact that Christianity really doesn’t have the solutions to man’s problems?” 

GOD’S ANSWER: “Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.” (Romans 8:33) God says, “No one can successfully press charges against a believer in Christ because I have declared him totally righteous on the basis of his faith in My Son.” No one can successfully accuse any Christian who commits suicide because God does not even accuse him – He declares him totally righteous or not guilty the moment he believed in Jesus Christ. No one can bring an accusation against the Christian who commits suicide that will stand. But how difficult it is at times to realize God’s interest and presence! It’s like the sun – every day – it shines. No one could EVER say – the sun isn’t shining! We may say, “I can’t feel it or see it”…but fly high enough and there it is!

3. MAN’S ACCUSATION: “Doesn’t such an act as suicide deserve condemnation?” 

GOD’S ANSWER: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8:34) God says, “No one can successfully condemn the believer who commits suicide because My Son – 

“… was condemned to death for his sins, removing his guilt (8:34b).

“… was raised to life, satisfying My demand to punish his sins (8:34c). 

“… is at My right hand defending him against all accusations (8:34d).” When Satan comes to God’s throne with accusations against the believer who commits suicide, God looks to His Son, and Jesus says, “Father, I paid for that sin.”

“… intercedes for him (8:34e).”

Now let me make something quite clear. I am not suggesting that such a death is condoned in Scriptures… for God assures us that He has not only designed LIFE but LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY for His children (John 10:10). However, the struggles and pain are often too great for a person who commits suicide. But God does not condemn him because Christ has taken his or her punishment. 

4. MAN’S ACCUSATION: “Doesn’t such an act separate a person from God’s love and presence? Isn’t this the classic act of rejection?”

GOD’S ANSWER: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39) Nothing, including suicide, can separate a Christian from the love of God. Even though others may stop loving us or we may stop loving ourselves, God’s love will never abandon us. Nothing you do, say, or think can separate you from God’s love. Absolutely nothing. 

Listen to Jesus’ own words: “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them…and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” (John 10:27-29) That includes the believer who commits suicide!  

Who shall oppose us? NO ONE. Who shall accuse us? NO ONE. Who shall condemn us? NO ONE. Who shall separate us from God’s love? NO ONE. The believer who commits suicide is in God’s presence – no more tears, crying, pain, death or darkness… all that is gone. His body awaits that incredible moment when it will be raised and changed—NEVER TROUBLED AGAIN WITH INNER DISTURBANCE  …CONFLICT …INSECURITY…UNREST…

HOW CAN I OVERCOME THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE?

  • Aim to work on the causes of your emotional pain, not just the symptoms.
  • If your depression is due to guilt, admit your sin to the Lord (Psalm 32:1-5; I John 1:9).
  • When you are depressed, place your hope in God (Psalm 42:5; Lamentations 3:20-25).
  • Avoid being isolated (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10). Stay connected to loving and supportive friends.
  • Seek help from others (Galatians 6:2; James 5:13-16).
  • Listen to uplifting Christian music and sing (I Samuel 16:14-23).
  • Identify and replace the lies underlying your suicidal thoughts with God’s truth. Jesus came so you could have life, but Satan came to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). Suicidal thoughts often stem from some of Satan’s lies.Focus on the truth of God’s Word, not Satan’s lies (John 8:31). If you are not aware of the lies you believe, journal your thoughts and feelings, relying on the Holy Spirit to reveal the underlying lies. Then ask God to remove the lies that cause you to have suicidal thoughts and graciously replace them with His truth (Psalm 119:28-29).

WHAT IF I SUSPECT SOMEONE I KNOW IS HAVING THOUGHTS OF SUICIDE?

  • Don’t be afraid to talk to them about it. We are only as sick as our secrets. Ask questions like: “Are you thinking about taking your life? Do you have a suicide plan as to how you would do it? Why do you think that’s the only answer?” Talking about suicide does not plant suicidal thoughts in someone who is already depressed. Talking about suicide actually decreases the possibility of that person taking his or her life because it diffuses its power. (If someone has a plan to kill themselves, make sure they get medical assistance immediately!)
  • Obtain a verbal “non-suicide” contract or commitment not to do anything that would be harmful or self-destructive without first talking with you or with a counselor, pastor, or another trusted person. 
  • Ask them to think through these questions: “If you died and came back to life, could you find other reasons for being glad to be alive? Would the Lord’s promises of love and guidance though your trials still be in place? Would the sun still shine and water still be cool and refreshing? Would there still be adventures in life and growth in relationships? Could some positive reasons for living, as opposed to dying, be developed?” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes! There is hope for the hopeless!