hope

On Hope.

moremarshLeave a comment

Hope. We all hope for things in life. Some hopes come true while others do not. Often, when we use the word “hope” we mean the feeling of an expectation in life or the desire for a specific thing to happen. We use the word “hope” more like wishful thinking… hoping, wanting, desiring, wishing for all our dreams to come true. But the thing about hope on earth is that it’s never promised and never certain. Hope that is not fulfilled leaves you hurting, hopeless, and heartbroken.

Recently I experienced the loss of hope. Specifically, I had hope for a relationship to flourish. Instead, it felt like it was ripped from my hands out of no where. I was left confused, sad, and broken. Hope that is not fulfilled is one of the worst feelings in this life, and in its wake are broken hearts, sloppy tears, and sleepless nights.

And yet, as I sat and contemplated this loss of hope, I was reminded of a hope that is certain, unfailing, and sure. In this life, we have one hope that will never leave us unfulfilled, hurt, or abandoned. This is the hope of Christ’s return! 

“Our hope isn’t that nothing bad will ever happen to us. Or that everything that does happen to us is ‘the will of God.’ Our hope is that no matter what happens to us, Jesus is back from the dead, and anything is possible.”

John Mark Comer

The hope of Jesus coming back is something that is certain. It is sure. It will happen. It’s a hope that we can go to the bank on. We can bet all the chips. We can go all in. And this hope is good. 

We can be certain of this hope because of the person this hope is based on. This is a hope that is based on the one and only creator God. He is a promise-keeping God. His character proves that He will keep his word. He has never once left us unfulfilled or abandoned. He has never failed us and he never will. And because of who He is, we can trust that His promises are steady, certain, sure, and true. 

“To the Scripture writers, hope is the absolute expectation of coming good based on the character of God.”

John Mark Comer

And in this hope, we rejoice! We rejoice because in this world we will experience pain, loss, suffering, tears, and hurt. We will break promises and promises given to us will be broken. We will experience hope unfulfilled. We will be left wondering if God truly has our best interests in mind or if He even cares.

And friend, I can tell you… He does. He is good. In fact, all he can be is good. It doesn’t always feel like he is, but history and his word tell us what is true. Our God keeps his promises to the very end. And we demonstrate our trust in the promises of God when we put all our faith in this good God. He is faithful to the very end, and our faith is what holds this hope secure.

So go all in on him. He is for you. And in him, your hope is secure. 

Don’t lose hope because someday HE IS COMING! Our King is on the move. 

“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.”

Hebrews 11:1

“Now may the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace as you believe so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Romans 15:13

“Rejoice in HOPE; be patient in affliction; be persistent in prayer.”

Romans 12:12

The Pool.

moremarsh1 Comment

After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic called Bethesda, which has five roofed colonnades. In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Jesus said to him, “Get up, take up your bed, and walk.” And at once the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked. Now that day was the Sabbath.

John 5:1-9 (ESV)

This story get me every time. Let’s just recap this story and try to imagine what this would have been like. The man Jesus went to go see had been there for 38 years and had put all of his hope in getting into the water to be healed. Jesus saw him and he knew he had been there for a long time, and then asks the man, “Do you want to be healed?”

I can imagine the man thinking, “Well yeah! That’s why I’m here! Obviously, I want to be healed!” I’ve always thought that was a strange question for Jesus to ask a man who lived by healing waters in simple hopes that he would one day be the first in the pool to be healed. This was his reality for the majority of his life.

Anyways, the man explained his situation to Jesus in hopes that he will stay around and carry him in. He was essentially saying, “Will you carry me into the water?” The man misunderstood what Jesus was offering him. And I can imagine Jesus simply shaking his head, “no” and looking at the man with kind and compassionate eyes.

Jesus doesn’t look at the man and ask him if he wants help getting into the water. He doesn’t come to him and tell him he will carry him into the waters. He doesn’t even ask him if he knows that he is Jesus, the Messiah. Jesus is simply not in the business of helping us get things our way.

That is where I break in the story every time.

All this man wanted was to be put into the water so he could be healed. He did want to be healed but he had a limited understanding of healing, believing the only way he could be healed was through this water.

Yet Jesus said no because he had something better in mind. He knew that the waters would not truly heal this man. Jesus knew true healing would only come through him.

So he kindly spoke to the man. And instead of responding to him with “Well, I will take you to the waters” or “My disciples here will carry you to the waters” he says, “Get up, take your bed, and walk!” Jesus healed this man because He is God!

This man is told to get up, something he has never done, and to take his bed and walk. This is an indication that he is not to return to this life, he is not to return to this place to sleep. He has been healed and everything has changed!

And this is how we should be when we trust in Jesus. Everything should change. We are a new person. We have a new purpose. And we have a new hope. The man didn’t even know Jesus’ name and yet he was healed by him. 

God is kind to not give us everything we want. And he is kind to give us the things we want in ways we don’t expect. This is hard to admit though because I often feel like it is not kind when he withholds things from me or has another plan. I believe that my plans are the best and struggle to trust God in the unknowns. Yet, this simple story reminded me that sometimes God withholds things from us that seem good to us because he has something better in mind. In this story, I see Jesus withholding healing the way the man imagined being healed in order to show this man who he truly was. This was far better for the man and it is far better for us as well.

So today, I encourage you to run to Jesus with all of your trust and hope. He may not give you what you want, or he may give you what you want in another way, but we can trust that he is a good and faithful God through it all. Only in Jesus is true healing found.

Never Forget

moremarshLeave a comment

I was in third grade when 9/11 happened. It’s a day I will never forget and I pray our nation never forgets it either.

I don’t remember everything, I was only 8, but here’s what I do remember. I remember getting ready to go to school, like any average third grade kid…brushing the knots out of my hair, eating a bowl of cereal, and packing up my backpack. I remember that my mom typically had the news station turned on and that day was no different. I remember my mom telling me and my brother that something bad had just happened in our country. I don’t remember when I first saw the footage of the planes, maybe it was at home or maybe it was at school, but either way, I remember watching the plane crash into the first twin tower and thinking, “How could this happen!” I remember that many of my classmates didn’t come into school that day, and it had been a conversation with my mom about if we should go or not. (Living in mountain time meant everything with the attack took place primarily before school began that day.) I remember going to school and sitting in class, as our teachers watched the news with teary eyes and a classroom of kids who were simply trying to make sense of the havoc that was happening. I remember the devastation of watching the second tower get hit. I remember the sadness, heartache, and disbelief I felt as I watch the tower fall, knowing there were lives in that building that could not be saved. (That memory is the one that always gets me right in the gut.) I remember thinking that day: “How could a good God let this happen?” and “What kind of people would fly airplanes into buildings?” and “Am I safe?” and “Will those people live who were in the buildings or the planes?” I remember hearing stories for weeks, and even years, after about heroic efforts to save lives. I remember seeing the bumper stickers with the American flag saying “God Bless America” for years after this day. I remember praying to God for the safety of our nation as our world changed in a single day.

I don’t know if many people think about the impact 9/11 had on the elementary kids of 2001, but that is a day I will never forget. It’s a day I won’t forget, not just because of the tragic events of the day, the thousands of lives lost, or the pure chaos and devastation. (Those are all things to be remembered and the lives themselves deserve a whole post and more!)

But to me, it’s more than that. It’s a day I will always remember because on that day, I remember, as a third grade student, seeing a country unite around one thing. I saw a country that was united in grief. I saw a country who, even with all the different backgrounds and political agendas, was united for a moment as we grieved the loss of thousands of lives and an attack on our freedom. This is the day that made me love my country and love the people who fight for our country and my freedom. It was a day that made me really consider what freedom and being an American mean.

So today, twenty years later, I remember. I remember the lives that have been given up for my freedom. I remember the lives that were taken that terrible day. I remember the pain and the hurt we all felt that day and for years to come as we remember 9/11. I remember the unity we found as a country who grieved together. I remember that God is always in control. I remember that this is not how it’s supposed to be.

Today, I remember with hope.

I have hope in a God who is good, faithful, and true…

…in a God who always does what He says He will do…

...in a God who will return and make all things new.

I have hope.

This is a sure and steady hope… a steadfast hope. This is a hope in a God who is just, good, gracious, loving, compassionate, and more. This is hope in a God who is with us in our pain, sees us in our suffering and loss, fights for us and with us, and was also heartbroken over that tragic day.

So even though today, the twenty year mark to a day that changed our nation and our world, we might grieve and mourn over the loss that occurred, we can grieve with hope.

[4] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:4 (ESV)

[13] But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. [14] For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. [15] For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. [16] For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. [17] Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. [18] Therefore encourage one another with these words. (ESV)

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

Hope in the Darkness.

moremarsh1 Comment

Frozen 2 may be one of my all time favorite movies. Cinderella (the real-life version) and Princess Bride definitely make my top three, but I think Frozen 2 is in my top 10 at least!

One of my favorite aspects of this movie is when Anna is in the cave, all alone. (Spoiler alert! But honestly, if you haven’t seen it by now, then you kind of deserve for this to be spoiled for you.) Elsa just pushed her away, both literally and figuratively, and then she froze. This causes Olaf to also evaporate and it seems like there is no hope left for her. It seems as if both Elsa and Olaf, her two favorite people, are gone forever.

Then she sings a song. And this song is why I love this move so much. It’s one of the few times you truly see a Disney character mourn, and mourn well. She sings a song called, ‘The Next Right Thing” and if you haven’t heard it, stop and listen to it now.

Here are the first few lyrics. Read through these slowly if you can.

“I’ve seen dark before, but not like this
This is cold, this is empty, this is numb
The life I knew is over, the lights are out
Hello, darkness, I’m ready to succumb
I follow you around, I always have
But you’ve gone to a place I cannot find
This grief has a gravity, it pulls me down
But a tiny voice whispers in my mind
You are lost, hope is gone
But you must go on.”

The Next Right Thing, Frozen 2

You see, Anna felt like there was no more hope, like everything in her life was over. She talks about this empty, dark, lonely feeling that many of us have truly experienced. And for many of us, this year has felt like this song… dark, heavy, weighty, difficult, lonely. She talks about how grief and sadness are pulling her down, so much that it’s hard to go on.

And then she says these words: “Hope is gone.” That is a strong statement. And this is a statement that may seem true according to the world.

But you see, as Christians, hope is not gone. We have hope, even in the darkness.

The season of Advent is a season of celebrating the coming of Jesus. This coming is promised from as early as Genesis 3:15. We are told that a Savior will come who will conquer Satan, sin, and death forever!

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.

Genesis 3:15 (ESV)

But His coming didn’t happen for years and years and years.

God continued to give His people promises through people like Abraham, Moses, and David. These were promises that God had not forgotten His people and that He had a plan. Prophets reminded the people that Jesus was coming, yet the people continued to live in darkness. They turned to their own ways and ignored or forgot the sure promises of God.

Then, God was silent……….. for four hundred years. I would imagine they felt just like Anna did, without hope.

But then!!! God speaks. And He speaks by sending His very own Son, born as a human, in a small town in the Middle East. This Son’s name is Jesus and He is God with us. He is the fulfillment of every promise and prophecy spoken about from the beginning. He is the one who came to bring hope in the midst of darkness!

As you celebrate Advent this year with your friends and family, I pray that you will see that Jesus bring us hope even in the midst of darkness. Yes, there are hard things, difficulties, deaths, and times of hopelessness in our lives and in our world. We live in a really broken place full of disappointment and disaster. But, our hope is not gone. It has not left. And God has not forgotten His people.

Be reminded of that this season, and be filled with hope! Our God has come to dwell with us and redeem us from everything broken in our world. And one day, He will return to make everything right again and dwell with us forever! Look forward with HOPE this year, trusting in the sure promises of God!

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Revelation 21:3-4 (ESV)