Millions are asking when will life go back to normal. I don’t know for sure, do you? None of us do. But here’s the deal: While we’re waiting for “normal to return” we can fully live today. Well, what is normal? Is it what you’re used to or a routine of sorts? Things that you can count on?
Yet, we all have daily choices still to make. In the uncertainty, we don’t have to be frightened by scarcity. Rather than asking, “What do I need today,” we can ask, “What do others need today?”
You see, you and I have both resources and assets to give. A listening ear. Empathy. Calm demeanor. A shout out to a friend. Words of consolation. Let us remember that no one of us is on this journey alone. At least we don’t need to be.
When our world is upside-down, we have three choices.
We can look down with discouragement and despair or we can look around and find blame and unfortunately this what we’re seeing too much of.
There is an alternative. We can look up to God in hope. Maybe you feel that time is running out and it’s too late to… Maybe you can relate to the psalmist when he said,
For troubles without number surround me and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Psalm 40:12
Not exactly the verse to put on your frig. Yet, no matter what’s happening in your life, no matter how grim, it’s not too late to look up and experience hope. Maybe you’re like a lot of others who wait for the circumstances to change when they’re really hungry for hope?
What if your situation doesn’t change, then what? You might be in a very hard place right now, but you don’t have to live without hope.
In Genesis 12 God told Abraham to leave the security of his homeland and go to the promised land and there God would make his name great. Note that God promised His blessing and directed Abraham to go, but it was not without extreme hardships and relational conflict all throughout his long journey.
Like Abraham, most of us at some point can get deeply discouraged. He had been waiting for God’s promised heir for over 25 years. Maybe like Abraham, you’re wondering how much longer will this go on? What do you do when you don’t know what to do? The good news is that in the midst of Abraham’s long desperate waiting we read.
When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do, but on what God said He would do. Romans 4:18
God wants us and the people we know to have hope
Where or to what can we point people? What do we tell people when they ask us where to find encouragement and hope? To more TP, more Purell, watch more Netflix, have another drink, go for another walk, get a change of venue, just be positive… and on it goes.
So, how can we look up with hope despite our desperation? There are some choices we can make when we’re in this place. The first choice is to…
Allow God’s love to be your life preserver
Hold unto Him when you don’t have anything else to hold unto. For so many it’s so easy to give up hope and distract ourselves with every imaginable thing that simply doesn’t help. It just prolongs our hopelessness and disappointment. Don’t allow trivial things to be your life preserver. Grab hold of the ultimate life preserver!
Yes, your friends and family can help you with encouraging support, but to make them your life preserver is expecting from them what only God can do. Who do you look up to as your life preserver? Only God’s love is there at every moment.
I look up to the mountains— does my help come from there? My help comes from the LORD, who made the heavens and the earth! Psalm 121:1-2
It’s never too late to look up and trust God
The LORD’S love never ends; his mercies never stop. They are new every morning.Lamentations 3:21-23
Okay, how do you do that? Every day and every morning even if you feel bummed remind yourself that God’s love is your ultimate life preserver. Tell yourself before you get out of bed, “no matter what He loves ME!” It will do your heart well.
In order to look up to God with real hope we have some other choices to make as well, but they’re harder. Stay tuned for those other practical choices next time.
