But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.  Jeremiah 17:7

It happens every day in every major city of the world.  A car is proceeding down the highway when another vehicle pulls directly into its path.  There is the screech of tires as brakes are jammed on, but it is too late.  The sickening thud is followed by the tearing of metal and the shattering of glass, punctuated with the screams of suffering.  A broken, bruised body is pulled from the twisted wreckage, and soon an ambulance is racing towards the hospital with siren wailing and lights making eerie designs on the inside walls.  The victim is unconscious and unaware of reaching the hospital; but upon his arrival a team of specialists go to work to save the life of the accident victim.

Moments later, the family arrives and begins the long vigil, awaiting the outcome of the life in the balance.  Finally, the doctors walk out to greet the family.  Without thinking, the words leap out, “Doctor, is there hope?  Is there hope?”

Centuries ago, the writer of Scripture wrote, “For the one who belongs among the living, there is hope.”  What oxygen is to the lungs and food is to the body, hope is to the soul.  To the Corinthians Paul wrote, “And now abides…and now remain faith, hope and love…” If Paul were writing today–in the twenty-first century–do you suppose he would still say, “And now remains…hope”?

Many are asking the question that the coal miner asked when he was trapped by an accident.  For him the day had begun as usual.  The descent into the earth was very routine and the work started just like any other day.  But that afternoon there was the explosion that resulted in suffocating clouds of dust, and the beams overhead crumbled like match sticks.  The miner was pinned by the debris but he could still breathe.  For hours he lay there until he finally heard the picks and shovels of the men who were digging toward him.

Occasionally, they would stop their work and call the miner’s name, straining their ears to hear the faintest sound.  After they called one time, they heard not a voice but the sound of fingers drumming on something.  “Shush!!”  They listened.  “It’s Morse code,” one of them said.  Sure enough, the miner although unable to speak was tapping out the words, “Is… there…hope?”

Many today are gripped with a quiet despair, uncertain of the future, wondering really if there is hope for our generation.  Science and technology have united to produce the greatest arsenal of death-producing weapons the world has ever known.  It never helps anyone to sleep better to realize that the atomic stock-pile is great enough to kill every person on the face of the earth several times over.  To this, add the problems of food shortages, the economy and a host of other difficulties.  One geologist said that if the earth were completely hollow and were filled with oil, we would still eventually run out of this black ooze unless we slow our consumption of resources.

Where shall we look for hope?  Moscow, Beijing, Geneva, Bonn, Washington?  Or shall we expect the United Nations to pass a resolution banning despair and pessimism?  No.  Little hope ebbs from the capitals of the world, but there is hope in a world considered hopeless by many.

Centuries ago, Jeremiah wrote, “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is” (Jeremiah 17:7).  The Bible, enforced by 5,000 years of written secular history, declares that there is no hope in the heart of man apart from the hope that comes through faith in God.

Is it any wonder that the writers of Scripture talked about our Father as a certainty, and through Him there is hope that life can be different?  Faith becomes the doorway that provides hope for the future, and that makes my life now worth living.  Hope is the only answer.

 

Resource reading: Psalm 42:1-11