Finding Hope in the Land of Normal - Denise Pass
Scripture of the Day:
Ecclesiastes 1:2-11
“Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!”3 What do people get for all their hard work under the sun? 4 Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. 5 The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. 6 The wind blows south, and then turns north. Around and around it goes, blowing in circles. 7 Rivers run into the sea, but the sea is never full. Then the water returns again to the rivers and flows out again to the sea. 8 Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. 9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. 10 Sometimes people say, “Here is something new!” But actually it is old; nothing is ever truly new. 11 We don’t remember what happened in the past, and in future generations, no one will remember what we are doing now.”
Hope Discovery of the Day:
Because life is challenging and hard does not mean it isn’t good.
Another day dawns, another list of to do’s. What is the point of it all? Solomon wondered the same thing.
Sometimes it feels like we are in a grand experiment of life to see how much we can handle. Solomon was the wisest guy of all and he still got bummed about it all. He also recognized that we are all on the same hamster wheel and there is nothing new in this life.
There! Does that cheer you up? Thought so. Where do we find hope in the tedium of life? Ironically, right where we are. It is in the mundane that we discover our greatest purpose in this life. Living fully for God in every moment He gives us.
I can hear some of you sarcastically saying, “Right, sure. Exactly what I was thinking. In the middle of my mess I am supposed to discover hope?” But because life is challenging and hard does not mean it isn’t good.
In fact, it is the hard places of life that cause us to see that we were made for more than this life. We were made with eternity in our hearts and minds and an imperfect world makes us long for more.
Sometimes we are too easily satisfied with cheap substitutes, but God still draws us nearer to Him. All the while, He uses our imperfect, messy lives to help us look upward.
Rather than just living to have a comfortable life, God wants us to live with the eternal life in mind. Right where we are at – messy diapers, unpaid bills, painful circumstances – God is in the midst of it all with us. He is able to give us perfect peace and joy in the midst because He is living inside those Who call on His name and are saved.
We have hope in the normal lives we live because we know that one day every tear will be wiped away. And now, while we wait, we are serving a Holy purpose of living for Christ right in the middle of normal. Christ did it, too, and conquered death while He was at it, giving us eternal hope.
Lord, thank You for giving us a hope that can never be taken away. Help us to live out Your hope for the world to see at all times.
