HOPE
South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, author of “Made for Goodness” was answering readers questions in the TIME magazine.
Q: After all you’ve seen and endured, are you really as optimistic as your book, ‘Made for Goodness’, says you are?
Tutu: I’m not optimistic, no. I’m quite different. I’m hopeful. I am a prisoner of hope. In the world, you have very bad people—Hitler, Idi Amin—and they look like they are going to win. All of them—all of them—have bitten the dust.
JEREMIAH 14
In the midst of the betrayal of God’s people and the impending judgment that was coming, Jeremiah prays earnestly, “O Hope of Israel ….” v8-9.
Hope is more than optimism. There may not be any hopeful aspects of a situation which optimism clings to. But hope is found not in a situation but in a Saviour.
Hope is more than being positive. There may be no moving forward, no direction and no increase. But hope is found not in progress but in a Person.
O Hope of Israel, its Saviour in times of distress …
How can we say this today?
In the situation that you may be in, how is that possible?
…. You are among us, O Lord … v9.
In his book ‘Deserted by God?’,Sinclair Ferguson shares the following story:
“The first physician to die of the AIDS virus in the UK was a young Christian. He had contracted it while doing medical research in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. In the last days of his life, his power of communication failed. He struggled with increasing difficulty to express his thoughts to his wife. On one occasion she simply could not understand his message. He wrote on a note pad the letter J. She ran through her medical dictionary, saying various words beginning with J. None was right. Then she said, “Jesus?”
That was the right word. He was with them. That was all either of them needed to know”.
So we can pray today:
O Hope of my life
Saviour in times of trouble
You are with me now.
Missions Paul 