The Gift of Hope

Lots of heaviness out there.

I’ve been with many this week who are carrying a large amount of sorrow. Due to a death, a health change, or a broken relationship, a heavy load of sorrow has been placed on their shoulders. Some have just begun to carry that sorrow. Others have been carrying their load of sorrow for years–or even decades. Just entering into their sorrow for brief moments this week was enough to leave me exhausted.

And then I made the mistake of listening to the new Coldplay album and heard the song, “Daddy.” (If possible listen to it before continuing to read.)

Daddy, are you out there?
Daddy, why'd you run away?
Daddy, are you okay?
Look Dad, we've got the same hair
And Daddy, it's my birthday
And all I want to say

Is you're so far away
Oh and you're so far away
That's okay
It's okay
It's okay

Won't you come and won't you stay?
Please stay
Oh, please stay
Won't you come and won't you stay?
One day
Just one day

Yikes! Hearing these lyrics broke my heart. It is a beautiful, heavy, deep, and poignant song that pinpoints a particular sadness that many of us can relate to.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 19.7 million children–more than 1 in 4–live without a father in the home. This is a staggering statistic but it bears out in the bewilderment of our society. (See https://www.fatherhood.org/fatherhood-data-statistics)

Though I have my own sadness from losing my father 22 years ago, my sadness is a little different than what is described in this song. I know that the only way I will see my dad again is when I join him in heaven. The sadness this song evokes belongs to those whose fathers are still alive and yet, for all intents and purposes, are dead to them. For some their dad is in jail, is disinterested in them, or is living a toxic lifestyle so they had to be cut off. This is a double sadness. This sadness is made up of the loss of what could have and should have been, as well as the sadness from hope being deferred at every holiday or birthday.

In Malachi 4 the prophet teaches that one of the things God wants to do is turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. I know it will not be easy; and I know that, in many cases, it seems impossible. But hard and impossible are God’s playground. Just ask Moses, who was trapped between two cliffs, a sea, and Pharaoh’s army when God made a way of escape and freedom. Just ask Jesus, who was dead and entombed when God, His Father, raised Him to life. God made a way where there was no way.

I believe God wants us to keep praying, keep hoping, and–like the prodigal’s Father–keep going to the edge of our property, with faith and hope in the God who is near to the fatherless (as well as the unfaithful fathers).

This Sunday we will be speaking about the strong, stubborn, supernatural gift that God gives His people in the face of deep despair. The gift of Hope. Please invite a few people who don’t know Jesus to come with you this Sunday. They just may receive Jesus and the hope He gives.

God bless you and fill you with Hope,

David

The Arrival of Peace

We live in an anxious world. Thirty-nine percent of Americans say they are more anxious this year than last year. According to the ADAA, about forty million Americans are now classified as having an anxiety disorder.

The peculiar thing is that, on nearly every metric—health, wealth, world conflict and comfort—our society is living in some of the best times in history. On the outside we should be the most at-peace society in history, and yet many of us are living weighed down by confusion and angst.

The word for peace in the Old Testament is Shalom. Shalom is a word filled with meaning and color. It can mean “the lack of conflict,” but it can also mean “whole” or “complete.” So when countries are without conflict, there is shalom; but also, when Solomon completed the temple, he brought shalom to it.

This sort of peace is illusive to the world around us. And, honestly, it was illusive for the people of Israel. In the history of Israel, there were only small glimpses of shalom in the midst of conflict, rebellion and pain.

That’s why the promise in Isaiah 9 is so powerful: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given… and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

Seven hundred years later, Jesus arrived.

But Jesus never promised that we would have external shalom—every circumstance in our life going well. What he promised was an internal peace in the midst of a confusing and painful world. He promised a peace that endures during an external breakdown. A peace that can mourn and hurt while retaining an interior stillness and steadfast hope.

Beyond that, Paul, in Ephesians 2, says that Jesus himself is our peace. He is the incarnation of shalom itself. Peace is not the absence of confusion or conflict. It’s the presence of Peace himself. It’s only in the presence of Jesus that we find true peace.

So, though we live in an anxious and chaotic world, we don’t have to allow it to sink into our interior. Jesus is the peace we need and have been looking for. It doesn’t depend on everything going well in our lives. It’s a peace that surpasses all understanding.

Christmas is the beautiful reminder that, when the world ran out of options in its pursuit of peace, Jesus arrived as the only true source of peace we can find.

–Ryan Romeo