When Hope Seems Lost

While enduring some unpleasant challenges recently, I found myself reflecting on a statement that I've offered a few times in exhortation: "While the heathen ask, 'WHO is the LORD?', the faithful ask, 'WHERE is the LORD?'" While some challenges are avoidable or we otherwise find ourselves delivered from them quickly, other challenges persist longer, compelling us to work through them, and consequently, drawing out spiritual gifts in the process.

The following message came forth from these musings.

Among the lessons that we learn in school (although not in the formal curriculum) a lesson that is reinforced at home and in religion is perseverance, hope, and faith. We are taught from a young age that there will be times in life where we must push forward, even when the way forward is unclear. This is an invaluable lesson because of the unpredictable flow of life. Some things are easily seen, readily discernible, and simple to follow or execute. But, many times, especially with consequential processes and goals, the way is not so clear.

The gist is this: when one is in the midst of the process of becoming, to what does one look in order to see what does not yet appear? The short answer is that there IS nothing to look to, except for examples of how perseverance paid off in the lives of others. In other words, we can see and observe that another was able to endure struggle and meet with goodness, and thus be inspired to persevere ourselves. But, we can never know how they felt, know how long or intense our struggle will be, or what our end will be.

It is in our own private and personal process of Creation (or evolution) where we encounter both building up and tearing down. However, this construction often takes place under the cover of darkness, in the mystery of the yet-to-be-revealed. In order to complete this process, one has no choice but to keep going; but pressing on is almost never an easy choice. With a mind full of questions, a heart full of doubt, a body taxed by weariness, and a path cloaked in darkness, the temptation to give up can sometimes be very strong.

There is a poem that I first heard a friend recite many years ago that I reflect upon when I'm weary, a poem¹ that inspires me to keep going. One line states:

"Success is failure turned inside out-
The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,
And you never can tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems so far,
So stick to the fight when you're hardest hit-
It's when things seem worst that you must not quit."

As we wrestle with the strains that challenge us, let us contemplate on those times when hope seems lost.

For all of our enthusiasm about the Passover story, the one thing that we tend to gloss over is a very pivotal, albeit painful moment shortly after Moses first confronts Pharaoh. We know the result of that meeting, namely that Pharaoh asked the question, which to some seems offensive of blasphemous, but could simply have been a consequence of ignorance.

He asked,

"Who is the LORD that I should obey His voice. I know not the LORD, neither will I let the children of Israel go."

Then, perhaps because of his own feelings of insult, he heaped more work on the children of Israel.

Moses, who was already reluctant to do the job of deliverer, left Pharaoh defeated and asked (in so many words) the terrible question, "WHERE is the LORD?" Exodus 5 records:

[22] ...Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? Why is it that Thou hast sent me?
[23] For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast Thou delivered Thy people at all.

I would daresay that, even if Moses didn't feel it, most people who read this story may feel that all hope seems lost. But, in that moment of helplessness (and perhaps hopelessness), God returned an answer that helps us to put things into perspective.

God filled Moses in on some details that He had not shared initially; but He first removed doubt about the success of his mission, saying (Exodus 6):

[1] ...Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land.

God went further, explaining to Moses that not only did Pharaoh not know Him by that name, but neither did the Patriarchs! Still, ironically, He had some promises to keep with them.

If we go back to those promises, the first one was not about their deliverance, but about their service/servitude. "Your seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them 400 years..."²

Ultimately, "they shall come out with great substance." In short, God is implying that there is a purpose and goal to why He was allowing them to become foreign servants. This is not a random situation where one group assumes authority over God's people. He was deliberately letting (i.e. causing) this (to) happen!

With this context of "purposeful service", what difference would it make what Pharaoh saaid or did about not letting Israel go? When the time is right, the people will be freed, because God had promised both the servitude and the deliverance! Perhaps Pharaoh knew this (perhaps subconsciously), and thus, intensifies the burdens of the oppressed, which sapped almost all remaining hope from the weary souls. But, as the cliché says, "It's always darkest before the dawn," for unbeknownst to the people, Israel was acquiring the "great substance" that God had promised.

While on one level, hope was quickly fading, to the point that the people turned on their redeemer, on another level, Pharaoh had placed the people right where God wanted them: on the precipice of deliverance! After 399 years, Israel was a year away from deliverance, although by mere appearances, that couldn't have seemed further from the truth!

From the perspective of the baker, there is an expectation of how long the cake will take to bake. Even if the baker is hungry, the baker has the patience and discipline to wait. The baker knows that if too little time passes, the result will be a mushy mess; too long, and it will burn. Experience tells the baker when the magic moment is.

From the perspective of the cake, the oven is hot; the heat is changing its makeup. It feels it will die if it doesn't get out of this fire. Perhaps the cake worries that it is losing what it was, doesn't know what it will be, but wonders if it will be destroyed before the fire stops.

Our challenge is to not only endure the heat, the pressure, the darkness, but to forge a relationship with the baker, i.e. the Creator, so that we can, to a small degree, perceive ourselves from His perspective. We may not be able to discern how much longer it will take, we may not be able to see what the end product will be; but if the relationship is there, then we can trust Him to know what He's doing with us, that He won't leave us in too long, and that despite appearances, all hope is not lost!

Perhaps this is what the composer, Carlton Pearson realized after an ordeal that he experienced:

We've come this far by faith
Leaning on the LORD
Trusting in His Holy Word
He never failed me yet
Oh' can't turn around
We've come this far by faith

...and our shared experience of not only overcoming challenges, but coming out with great substance, whether it be vindication, revelation of spiritual gifts, receipt of wealth or material goods, restoration of health, the mending of a relationship, the conquering of a fear... whatever it was/is, causes the sentiments of this song, this scripture, this poem, and this message to resonate, to uplift, to encourage, and to empower you to keep on keepin' on! Amen!

¹"Don't Quit" by John Greenleaf Whittier
²Genesis 15:13

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