“Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.” Psalm 25:5
“There’s always hope,” my sister would tell her two dogs who faithfully waited by her side for a crumb to fall on the floor as she would prepare the meals. She was always right and many nights their patience paid off.
My family loves to watch The Flash (a superhero show) together. Last week we were watching an episode where the hero had given a falsely imprisoned man hope that he would reveal the truth and hence, the prisoner would go free. At first, the prisoner was opposed to the help the hero was offering because he had been disappointed in the past when someone had given him false hope. You might say the prisoner had lost all hope. Despite his best efforts, the Flash wasn’t able to clear the prisoners name and so he remained incarcerated. However, this time, he thanked the Flash because he realized that it felt good to have hope again.
The day after we watched this episode, my 5th grade son was given an assignment on Emily Dickinson’s poem called “Hope”. You should have seen his face when he read it to me! I thought, “How beautiful!”, and yet he was clueless. I’d like to share her lovely poem with you.
Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without words,
And never stops at all
And sweetest in the gale is heard
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm
I’ve heard it in the chillest [sic] land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.
– by Emily Dickinson
Maybe the more gales we experience, the strangest of seas we cross, or the chillest land we find ourselves in, there we hear the song that hope sings. My 5th grade son possibly hasn’t had the experiences that Dickinson mentions where he has had the opportunity to hear this sweetest song.
The Bible says over and over in the Psalms and elsewhere how hope is found in the Lord and in His Word. John 1:1 says Jesus is the Word. He is our hope. Other poets, psalmists, and songwriters put it this way:
In Christ alone, my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
Where fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, My All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.
– by Stuart Townsend & Keith Getty
Do you see the similarities found in both poems? Life is full of fierce droughts, storms, and gales for all of us. But through them all we can know the Hope that sings and springs eternal, the Hope that does not disappoint us, the Hope that shines through the sufferings because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through His Holy Spirit.
If you are looking for a reason to have hope today, if you find yourself imprisoned by the storms of life, listen to the poets of yesterday and today; look no further than God’s Word. Hope is found in Christ alone. He is the only One who sets the prisoners free! Put your hope in Him.
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psalm 43:5
THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE IN CHRIST!
Have a Sweet Monday!
His servant and yours,
Paula