Hope Has A Name

There are some days that I just need hope. I mean I need a sliver of hope. I can get so discouraged and beat down that I can’t seem to get my head up. I really hate getting so down and so discouraged, but sometimes my circumstances scream louder at me than the hope deep inside. I’ve learned over the years to “go with what I know until my feelings catch up”. I believe that the Lord has me in the middle of my darkest night. I don’t always “feel” Him close, but I “know” He’s here. Jeremiah was speaking of this type of discouragement and despair in Lamentations. Check this out….

19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,

    the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,

    and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind

    and therefore I have hope:

22 Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,

    for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;

    great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, ‘The Lord is my portion;

    therefore I will wait for him.’

25 The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him,

    to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly

    for the salvation of the Lord. (Lamentations 3:19-26 NIV)

In my life, I’ve been through some really dark valleys and it takes me a minute for my eyes to adjust to where I find myself. I find it hard to make decisions without knowing where I am. I have to lean on the professional guidance of others when I’m in such a fogged over place. I know the Lord is present – He promised He’d be here and He’s never left me or forsaken me. Sometimes my struggle is so consuming my thoughts that I can’t see Him at work, but He is working.

I know a few things about the Lord. I know that Jesus came to earth as a baby, grew up in a carpenter shop and then ministered to hundreds and thousands of people as He walked this earth. He died a sacrificial death that I might have forgiveness and hope. I know that to the logical/linear mind this may not make any sense. But I know that Hope has a Name – Jesus. He has seen me through some dark, dark times. He never leaves just because things are tough, in fact that’s when He does some of His most memorable work in me. My Hope is in Jesus. Through the struggles of this season – my hope is in Him.

Pressing On!

Dwayne