The Struggle with Despair…. Finding Hope

With the leftovers from Thanksgiving consumed and the Christmas decorations popping up in the neighborhood (my house included), it isn’t hard for me to catch the spirit of ‘Christmas is coming! When I was a little girl, I always wrote my letter to Santa Thanksgiving weekend and made sure Daddy put it in the mail Monday morning. After all, the North Pole was a long way away, and I wanted to ensure Santa got my wish list in plenty of time. After that letter was handed off, the hard part of waiting began. As a child waiting for Christmas, it was easy to fall into despair. I remember telling Dad, “It’s never coming! Christmas isn’t coming.. It’s too far! I can’t wait that long!” As a five-year-old, even though there were no options except to wait, I was dramatically convinced one might perish from waiting. It isn’t hard in the world we live in to fall into despair and treat God’s solid promises like they are wishes that may or may not come true. I can still relate to the belief that one might perish from the wait. Just when I thought I couldn’t stand the wait any longer, I would review what I asked Santa for, which refreshed my wait tolerance. Looking forward to Christmas helped pass the time.

As we enter this first week of Advent, we focus on hope. Real hope! Hope is not wishes like what I put in my childhood letter. The biblical definition of hope is confident expectation. Wishes are about the highly unlikely, perhaps the impossible, coming to pass. Like the year I asked for a pony. I received a rocking horse and loved it, but it wasn’t a pony. Hope in the kingdom of God is that it already exists and will be coming. It is reality but just has yet to totally reveal itself. The truth of redemption was established from the moment after the fall of man. Christ was our hope, even though it would be several hundred years before his earthly appearance. Talk about a wait! The Lord raised prophets throughout that period to remind folks there was something to look forward to. He encouraged their confidence with His promises even in their most despairing seasons. God’s promises are not a list for us to make wishes from. Rather his promises encourage us to put our expectations and trust that they are a reality even if they have not yet totally revealed themselves. 

A man named Storm took the time to tally the total number of promises in the scriptures and came up with the number of 7,487. This is the number Mr. Storm says; these are just the promises God made to man. We have trouble relating to the people who waited for the promised messiah because we live in the truth that He came and completed the plan of salvation. However, we find ourselves in a similar situation while waiting for His return, and call us home. And while we wait, we don’t have to despair. We don’t have to wish for Christ’s return. It is a reality!  

God has given me His word that is true to help me look forward and comfort me in my despair and wait. The hope of God is like gifts that haven’t all been unwrapped. But often, rather than learn what He has promised, I cast my view toward everything tangible in the here and now. This is easier than the wait. It isn’t hard to see that in a bad-news world. Where chaos prevails and any chance of peace seems impossible, I would struggle with despair. However, If I put my focus on the hope that God’s promises bring, my spirit can be renewed, and my patience for God to set things right can multiply. The hope I have in Him is based on all He has promised. God’s promises are not suggestions. They are not possibilities. They are rock-solid commitments that He will keep. When God says it, it’s as if it is already done, even if it is not apparent to my human eye or transpired in the sense of time I experience here on earth. I wonder if someone asked me how many of the promises of God I could name, how far could I get down the list?.

As I enter this advent season, I ask myself, is my hope in Christ greater than ever before? How much is my daily existence impacted by a despairing spirit? Or am I living in confident expectation of all God can and will do in my life? Even if the odds seemed stacked that it is not possible? As a follower of Christ, I do not have to move through life as if I am living by some cosmic wish list that may or may not come true. I am not living a life of chance but of purpose. While I may be subject to trials, I will not be overtaken because God has said as His child, I will not. While I may think I will perish from the wait, I do not wait alone, for the spirit of God inside me waits with me and helps me anticipate all that Is coming my way. Putting my hope in God is more than making a wish list; it is waiting for reality to unfold in the most surprising places in the most amazing ways. 

Dear Lord, as I enter this advent season, may the dismay that threatens to move in and overtake me be swallowed up. Help me allow your holy promises to fill every dark and dismal corner of my soul. Turn my carol of despair into a song of anticipation as I focus on all you are preparing for me. Remind me; I wait with hope. You are coming! You are really coming!

Please come back and share this season in the vineyard. Next time the 5 o’clock worker celebrates Advent with “The Struggle Within… Finding Peace.”