Week One - Day Three

Hope Realized

Jeremiah 31:15-17 recalls a time of mourning in the history of Israel, a time when the children of God were carried away from their homeland and into exile. Mothers are weeping at the loss of their children. They are stripped of hope, bitter in soul, refusing to be comforted. Maybe some of us can relate to that kind of loss and pain. Stripped of hope, bitter in soul, refusing to be comforted.

Later in Matthew’s Gospel, there again is great lamentation and sorrow as the children of Israel are (again) destroyed, this time by the torturous hand of Herod. Like Israel of old, most certainly sadness and grieving are woven through our hearts as we navigate life in a broken world. In our day too, evil, trauma, and injustice steal life, peace, and joy from our hearts.

WE TRUST IN THE ONE WHO HAS COME TO SECURE THE REALITY OF OUR HOPE

Yet, in the midst of such devastation and despair, the Lord offers His people hope. One day, Jeremiah declares, your children will come home. One day, all will be right in the world. One day there will be no more sadness. One day all hope will be realized and it will all be worth it. And so we wait. We hold on to hope. We trust in the One who has come to secure the reality of our hope.