The clock is ticking again! I say that because for the past couple of weeks time had seemed to stand still for me. I felt like I was in a state of limbo and the world was going on without me. Life is a journey and if some type of progress is not being made on a daily basis then I get uncomfortable and start asking questions. The Lord answered my inquiries by reminding me of Ps. 46:10, “Be still and know that I am God.” I now realize that limbo is the state of “being still” and it is this condition that God will reveal Himself to me as God. I am now convinced that behind the scenes the Lord is doing a very powerful work. What it is exactly has not yet been revealed to me but a heavy burden has been lifted off my shoulders and the past several days have flown by faster than normal. Hope has been restored and I feel more freedom than I have in a long, long time.
The Lord recently shared a vision with me during a Saturday night service of praise and worship. I was in a large desert, where the ground was dry and broken into a million little pieces. This, I knew, represented my life for the past three years. We have experienced a continual, unending cycle of trials and unrelenting hardships. They are unexplainable in human terms and have left my family and I battered and bruised. We have been Christians long enough to know that a valley is not a bad place to be if you and Jesus are going through it together.
A noted evangelist once said, “We discover early in life that things don’t always turn out the way we planned. But we also discover that through tests and trials, and the way of the storm, a bonding takes place with God that we never knew before.” Not once did I waver in my walk with the Lord although I occasionally raised my arms in mock surrender and asked aloud, “When is it all going to end?” In the vision I then looked down and saw a single blade of grass growing up out of one of these cracks in the desert floor. I knew this represented life, a symbol that light can indeed shine in the darkness. I then looked up and saw not too far ahead of me the edge of a massive mountain range. To reach those mountains and the victory they represent, I knew I must keep going forward. It was the life in that single blade of grass that gave me the hope and courage to do just that.
I now realize that my journey through this long dry spell in life is nearly over. I am reminded of the story of Elijah when he prayed for rain after three and a half years of drought. Several times he sent his servant to check the horizon for rain clouds. When none were seen the prophet prayed all the more earnestly until finally the servant returned and reported a small gathering of clouds about the size of a hand. That’s all Elijah needed to hear. Rain was coming! None was falling at the time but what the servant had seen foretold what was to come. This is what hope does for you. It foresees a better tomorrow and this gives you strength and determination to make it through whatever you may be facing today.
For years I have lived my life saying that each day is the best day of my life. I live one day at a time and I make the most of each day the Lord has given me. But what about tomorrow? I believe we should live for today and hope for a better tomorrow. If one does not believe that tomorrow will be better than today when today is full of hurt and pain, then why go on at all? The enemy’s number one goal is to rob you of all your hope because this is what your faith is applied to. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” No hope, no faith. No faith, no victory. The absence of hope will steal from you what can be a promising future. The absence of hope is the greatest contributing factor in all divorces and suicides. The Bible says not to worry about tomorrow but surely we can use hope to believe for a better tomorrow. For some this could be considered an act of survival. David wrote in Ps. 27:13, “I would have lost heart unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
The theme of the Broadway musical “Annie” was that one could always hope for a better tomorrow. The red-headed orphan would sing, “The sun will come out tomorrow….it’s only a day away.” If your world seems to be collapsing around you then hold on and put all your hope in the living God and believe for a better tomorrow. Hope gives you the assurance that out of sorrow and pain, when borne patiently and truthfully, comes the more abundant life. Rejoice in the words of the apostle Paul in Rom. 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit Who was given to us.” Hallelujah!
Finally, don’t only use hope when days are bad. Use it when things are going good for you as well. Michael Jordan once scored fifty-five points in a championship game and was asked if that was the best game of his career. He replied, “I don’t know if that was the best game of my career or not. Hopefully the next game will be the best game of my career.” Friend, may hope fill your heart and cause you to believe for a better tomorrow. It’s there for the taking. After all, it’s only a day away.
