TIM’S THOUGHTS
DON’T DESPAIR
It has been a rough day in a tough week in a lousy month. I can seen it on your face. You are weary. Things aren’t well.
Your shoulders slump and your steps have slowed. It’s as if your vitality is being siphoned away. Your words ring hollow.
A weight is crushing you. Getting up each day has become a challenge. Living has worn you down and you are in despair.
Maybe you have been walking in the valley of the shadow of death. Despair lives close by. Or maybe you can’t put your
finger on it, but something has been gnawing away at your hope. Or if you haven’t yet reached despair, you are on that
road. Your fire for God has been dampened. Despair sneaks ever nearer.
Feelings in and of themselves are our body’s reaction to what is going on around us. Feelings are neither good nor bad.
So, feeling despair is a normal part of being human. Living in despair is not. The despair that remains is often maintained
by untruths we believe about God, ourselves and the world. Despair breeds hopelessness, meaninglessness and
purposelessness. When things get tough we may feel hopeless, purposeless and meaningless. But we know that in Christ
we have purpose, mission and unshakable hope. We must allow God to lift us out of these depths. We are not a people of
despair. We are not our own, we have been bought at a price with the precious lifeblood of Christ in order to be God’s
very own possession. Whether we feel like it or not, God has a plan for us.
Hope is something God’s people have always needed. About 2500 years ago the people of Judah suffered devastating
attacks by the powerful Babylonian army. After leading several groups of Jerusalem’s finest citizens into exile to Babylon,
they put an exclamation point on their efforts by utterly destroying the temple, the palace and the rest of the city. Talk
about despair. Can you imagine being one of those exiled Jews? You are snatched from your home, your family and
everything you know. Then you are dragged about 800 miles on foot to a strange city in order to live among and serve
your enemies. From your point of view it looks as though your God has been defeated, beaten and dethroned. It is a
tragedy of enormous proportions. It is almost unthinkable. Yet this is exactly what happened to hundreds of Jews like
Daniel, Ezekiel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
In the early days of the exile God inspired the prophet Jeremiah, who stayed in Jerusalem until its destruction, to write a
letter to the exiles already in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4-20). It was a realistic yet encouraging letter telling of God’s promise
to bring the exiles back after 70 years. It is in the middle of this letter that we find the famous words:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans
to give you hope and a future. Then you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
This is not the context you might expect to hear such powerful words of hope and purpose. But that is exactly what the
exiles needed to hear. As despair clawed at their souls God reminded them that He still had a plan for them. Regardless of
how things appeared, God cared. He affirmed His great love for them and promised not to ignore their need, pain and
despair. God had big plans for them, good plans, life-giving plans. In fact, God was planning to use the circumstances of
the exile itself to bring about His purposes for His people. In other words, God was using the negative consequences of
their behavior as the incubator for holiness, faithfulness, trust and obedience. God was turning difficulty and pain into
vehicles for life and growth. His methods have not changed much in two millennia.
This letter is not only for the broken-hearted exiles 2500 years ago. God included it in the Bible to encourage you and me.
No matter what life throws at us, it’s no match for God’s power in accomplishing His plans and purposes. And God will
use all life throws at us to be willing servants in accomplishing His glory and our good. Pain, suffering, loss, hardship and
grief are not meaningless. Let God use them to accomplish life and maturity in you. God has a plan for you! You matter to
God! Let Him lift you up from whatever depths you’ve stumbled into. God can do it. Ask Him. He longs to draw near to
you so you might experience Him as the God of all comfort. God loves you. He has promised good plans for your life.
You can trust Him. God keeps His promises.
Don’t forget, this is God we’re talking about. He is the ONE who created everything from nothing. God is the ONE who
started all of humanity with just 2 people. God is the ONE who started a huge nation from a childless & elderly couple.
He’s the same ONE who made a shepherd boy into the one of the greatest kings to ever live, made an empire out of a band
of tribes and redeemed the sins of the world through the son of a carpenter. He is the ONE who trampled death by death,
raised Christ from the dead and launched a new world in the middle of the old one. So when God tells you He’s got plans
for you, pay attention. He means business. It doesn’t matter how bleak things look. Don’t buy the lies that despair is
selling. God always keeps His promises. Hold on tight. God’s got a plan. He will lift you up! “May the God of hope fill
you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy
Spirit!” (Romans 15:13)
September 2015