Sunday, August 3, 2008

Hope's Assurance

Evil is so pervasive. We find it all around us. It fills the news, destroys nations, ravages our families, and infiltrates our lives. We never have to look far to find it. Sometimes it is all we can see. It speaks loudly, so easily drowning out the good with its megaphone of doom. It can weigh so heavy until we feel overpowered under its weight.

Sometimes I have a hard time reconciling my heart with all that is not right. There are days when it is so easy to see only that. In those moments I can often miss the goodness and the justice of God in operation. The goodness of God speaks so much more powerfully than the voice of evil, but it is also less easily heard. The justice of God is in operation in our lives. But it often works quietly, coming upon us with a calm stealth. God is there, but we don't always feel Him because we don't take time to stop and sense Him.

The writer of Hebrews states that, "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." When the world speaks of hope it speaks of wishful thinking. When God speaks of hope, He speaks with assurance. It is often hard to see how God is working to make the wrong things right in our lives, in our families, in our world. But we don't hope wishing that someday He will. We hope knowing that He is. He has been working, He is working, and He will bring about the final righting of all wrong in the glorious day of His return. There are days we can't see it. We can't feel it. We can't hear it. All we see is darkness. All we feel is pain. All we hear are the cries of injustice. But the light is there and our King is coming! He is in our midst even now. I want to train my heart to trust Him in those moments when I am overwhelmed with all that is not right. I want to learn to trust His goodness when I all I can see is wrong. I want to listen for His whisper of righteousness sweeping over my heart and my world. It is quiet, but it is there. It is pounding deep within His heart and I can sense it beginning to pound deep within mine. Let us listen for it together, waiting for it to swell and grow within our midst. The enemy has been defeated. Death has met its doom. Evil holds no power. And though these truths cannot be seen with outwards eyes, I want to live with the conviction that what cannot be seen is still there. It is real. It is more real than what I am seeing now. It is the reality of the coming of Christ. One day the entire world will see it for themselves. But I don't want to wait until that moment. I want to see it now. Father, give my heart the eyes to see your movements and your glorious acts of justice at work!

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