Longing for the Dawn
The Bible sure talks a lot about hope.
Over and over the teaching and stories from the past faith-filled folks look out beyond their circumstances and to their God for rescue and relief, reconciliation, and safety along with any other unmet need of the heart. Hope stands bolstered by belief and leads to a kind of trust that bears all things life delivers.
Hope, in all generations, finds peace in God’s loyal love for every person. Even in the Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11, where examples of faith are spotlighted, the chapter ends with truth-telling of the many who suffered and died without getting what they wished for in this life, but who also did not waver in their belief that the Kingdom of Jesus is true and would make all things well.
So, we live and work and get up every day hopeful in the now, and yet not yet. There is an odd sense of unfinishedness to this life. Believers don’t wish these days away so we can just die and go to heaven. No, we wish for Jesus’ kingdom to come and his will to be done, right here. This goes beyond culture wars and trivial pursuits and straight to the heart of each one of us. In short, we hope in God that he will make what is crooked, straight and what is wounded, healed.
We hope in God. It really is that simple. The psalmists in the Jewish bible spoke often of this looking and longing. Here is one slice from Ps.130.
I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.
I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.
Oh, Israel, hope in the Lord for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.
The hope we have in FatherSonSpirit looks nothing like wishful thinking, rather, just like sentries certainly know the dawn is coming, they still long for it in the cold dark of night. We live cold, dark nights at times, and in those hours we long for the dawn of God making all, or even some, things right.
The psalmist reminds us to remember that with the Lord there is unfailing love. This is committed, settled, loyal, covenantal love from God himself. He tells his own often to not be afraid because he’s got this because we are his children, called to live out our true identity. Our task is to go forward in trust.
And our redemption in Jesus overflows. Like when the pipes burst and water runs down the cabinets and across the floors, soaking every room of the house, so God’s transforming work saturates every part of life, all the way back in our past and all the way forward to our end. Our joy stands in the freedom of being fully and freely redeemed.
Joshua Elzner describes hope like this.
Hope can be understood as desire—as the God-ignited desire for those things that he has promised to us, and our trust that we will indeed receive them… Hope thus reaches out beyond sight to make contact with what God has promised, and indeed with what he has given which cannot yet be experienced to the full.
Weave this thread from Elzner into your thinking. What does your heart desire that God has promised? Pour your heart out to him, since Jesus tells us to keep on asking and knocking and seeking. Long for the dawn while living faithfully in the dark.
As we do this hope thing in the midst of our challenges and pain, the outcome (as you have seen in others who pin their hope in God alone) will be a life of fullness and a strange peace. Others won’t understand. You might even wonder where your calmness in chaos comes from. Friend, that’s the Holy Spirit working in you…lean into him.
Paul gets after this toward the end of his letter to the Roman church.
˙I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Like the picture at the top of this note, what we desire might seem just out of reach, but in hope we trust that God will do his will and his work in our lives, now and for all time. Growing our hope-muscles takes time, so be patient with yourself. Just don’t quit and descend into despair, God’s got this and you.
Now, that’s good news.
Music for the week…
Jokes? Sure…
A man goes skydiving for the first time.
After listening to the instructor for what seems like days, he is ready to go. Excited, he jumps out of the plane. After a bit, he pulls the ripcord. Nothing happens. He tries again. Still nothing. He starts to panic, but remembers his back-up chute. He pulls that cord. Nothing happens. He frantically begins pulling both cords, but to no avail.
Suddenly, he looks down and he can't believe his eyes. Another man is in the air with him, but this guy is going *up*! Just as the other guy passes by, the skydiver—by this time scared out of his wits—yells,
"Hey, do you know anything about skydiving?"
The other guy yells back, "No! Do you know anything about gas stoves?"
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Three men were at a bar discussing coincidences.
The first man said, "My wife was reading a Tale of Two Cities and she gave birth to twins!"
"That's funny," the second man remarked, "my wife was reading The Three Musketeers and she gave birth to triplets!"
The third man shouted, "OH NO, I have to rush home!"
When asked what the problem was, he exclaimed, "When I left the house, my wife was reading Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves!!!"