Last night’s sermon was in the book of Lamentations. Oddly enough, there are places in this book of lamenting that talk about having hope. As we looked at what the writer had hope in, we saw that it wasn’t just hoping for things that would get better in the future, it was in God being good and with him in the present.
Hope isn’t just in the future for Christians. While it is helpful to know that things will get better, that God will set things straight, that we will see our deceased loved ones again, that eventually everything will be settled, we do have to figure out what we’re going to do in the meantime. So we have hope in the present because God has promised to walk right here with us. We have hope in the present because God is still good to us.
In Choosing Praise I talked a little about this. As I prayed for God’s help coping with the prospect of my grandma dying, I knew things would be fine at some point, but I needed Him to help me right then, so He did. Afterwards when my grandma did die, God was still right there. I had hope I’d see her in the future, and I had hope that God would walk with me and comfort me in the present.
Look to the God in which you can have all hope. Both now and in the future, He is there with you.
Related:
Faith and Hope
A Little Something on Death
A Little Light
Why Me?
Why Them?