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That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day.  For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!  So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

You think you have it tough? Consider the apostle Paul. According to his own account in 2 Cor 11:24-28, he had received 39 lashes five times, survived three shipwrecks, and encountered all sorts of dangers and trouble in travelling about the world telling people about Jesus. On top of that, he’s getting old and becoming more and more aware of his mortality. He knows that if shipwrecks and beatings don’t kill him, time eventually will. Nevertheless, he was still able to enjoy the hopeful perspective recounted above. Amazing! How was he able to do it? Simple. He was able to maintain a long distance perspective. He was able to focus on the promises of God beyond this life, and not be distracted by the trials of his day to day life.

I bet you do have it tough. We all do. Underneath the “I’m fine” face we put on in public most folks I meet have a laundry list of troubles; troubles that distract us from the hope we have in Jesus. Follow Paul’s advice. Fix your gaze on things that cannot be seen. The troubles you experience today will soon be gone, but persevering them in faith will result in a glory that is far greater than our troubles – a glory that will last forever.

Elijah was afraid and fled for his life. .. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died.” 1 Kings 19:3-4

Sounds like Elijah was having a bad day, doesn’t it? Truth be told, he was actually doing well. He had just completed a stunning work of God, demonstrating in grand fashion the false god du jour (Baal) was a fraud (1 Kings 18) and he would soon have a close personal encounter with GOD who would care for Elijah’s needs and send him into the next phase of his divine service. Despite the fact that he was being used by God in such significant ways and enjoying such an intimate relationship with God, Elijah was afraid and wishing he were dead.

A wise man once said while lamenting that his missionary children (and grandchildren) were serving in a dangerous overseas setting, “There’s no better place for them to be than right in the middle of God’s will, and I know that’s where they are.” That’s where Elijah was – right in the middle of God’s will for his life, and as a result he would do the great works of God recorded in scripture, and at the end of it all receive the rare honor of being taken up into God’s presence “in a whirlwind,” bypassing the grave altogether. That notwithstanding, from Elijah’s perspective, life stunk!

When life brings us trouble, like Elijah, we get scared and discouraged. It’s important to remember that our relationship with God does not come with a guarantee of happiness and easy living. There will be days when you’ll find yourself “under a broom tree wishing you were dead.” As Jesus put it in his last supper with his disciples, “In this world you will have trouble…” All of us know that all too well. Fortunately, Jesus went on to finish that sentence by saying, “…but take heart, I have overcome the world!” (John 16:33) That’s the true benefit of the Christian life. Not being promised a life of “sunny days,” but a life of hope that we have an eternity of sunny days waiting just beyond the storms we face in this life. Elijah would eventually move beyond the storms he faced in his life and enjoy eternity in the presence of God.

Do you find yourself sitting under a broom tree today? Take heart. Whatever you face has already been “overcome.” We serve a God who has promised us a better tomorrow that will last eternally longer than the troubles of today!

Psalm 137

1 Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
as we thought of Jerusalem.^[a]

This opening line captures the broken spirit of the people of Israel as they sat in exile in Babylon, having experienced the loss & destruction of their “Promised Land” because of the sinfulness of God’s people; especially their leaders.  I seem to recall hearing once that river banks were popular places of worship for the Jewish people in exile.  I can almost see them their, gathered together in worship, separated from their promised land, separated from their Temple, and seemingly separated from God.  I can feel their grief.

In the midst of their grief they still cry out to God.  In other words, they still have hope of being rescued from their misery, of being delivered into a better day and a better situation.  They have hope of someday going home.  I think that’s a good representation of where we find ourselves today.  Life has it’s tragedy.  None of us is immune from finding ourselves weeping beside the rivers of whatever Babylon we might find ourselves in; and yet, in the midst of our weeping we have hope.  We think of a better day and that better situation.  We look forward to being in “Jerusalem.”

We are reminded of that hope at Christmas.  The boy child born to Mary would grow up to promise that he was going to prepare a place for those who seek him – in what Revelation refers to as “The New Jerusalem” – and that he would return to take us away from whatever riverbank we might find ourselves weeping on, to that place where…

Revelation 21:3-4

He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;  4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”

Do you find yourself on a riverbank this Christmas?  Remember there is hope.  We have the promise of a New Jerusalem to look forward to.

11/28 Readings from the One Year Bible Online

I hope you had a safe and thankful Thanksgiving yesterday.  We had 15 at our house.  All came and left safely, and we had much to be thankful for.  Thanks be to God from whom all blessings flow.

As far as the today’s readings go, one verse from the seemingly endless Psalm 119 jumped out at me.  It was…

114 You are my refuge and my shield;
your word is my source of hope.

That’s really the essence of faith.  It’s reaching out to God for hope, for refuge, for protection.  Church leaders often lament the lack of concern people have towards faith.  At a local level we wonder why church members don’t make church a higher priority in life.  At the broader level we wonder why people are so indifferent about God.  The answer is simple.  They have all the hope they need.  They have hope in their doctor’s ability to heal them.  They have hope in their broker’s ability to provide for their needs.  They have hope in the skills they use to to make their living.  They have all the hope they need, or so they think.

It’s when they get hit broadside by the realities of life that they realize their hope is misplaced.  It’s not until the doctor comes in the room and confesses there is nothing more he or she can do that they realize they need hope beyond the doctors.  It’s not until the market crashes and they wind up broke that they realize we need hope beyond our brokers and our investments.  It’s not until they suffer the injury that renders their skills useless, or they get replaced by a computer that can perform their skills faster and cheaper that they realize we all need hope beyond ourselves.  It’s at the point when false hope becomes hopelessness that we realize our need to turn to God to be our refuge and shield; our source of true hope.

I hope the fact that you are reading this means you understand that.  If not, ponder it, and if so, pray for those who have yet to put their hope in God, our refuge and shield.

Prayer:  God:  Thank you for giving us hope greater than any of the trials this life can throw our way.  Amen.