Hope in a Hard Place

By Dr. Victor Lujetic
Pastor, King Street Baptist Church, Cambridge

The season of Advent begins with the candle of Hope.

Jesus has many beautiful titles in Scripture. One of those is our hope. In 1 Timothy 1:1, Paul mentions “Christ Jesus our hope.” He is your hope, even when you feel hopeless. He replaces your despair with hope. Even though you “walk through the valley” (Psalm 23:4), the Lord gives you “a door of hope” (Hosea 2:15). Remember the Valley of Dry Bones in Ezekiel 37? The people felt hopeless and said, “Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone” (Ezekiel 37:11). But the Lord assured them that He would restore their hope, and he did.

Are you feeling like that today? Are you experiencing the Dry Bones Syndrome?

This COVID-19 pandemic can make you feel like you’re trapped in a hopeless situation. But the Lord reassures you that he will restore your hope and get you through this global pandemic and your personal crisis. There is hope on the horizon. There is light at the end of the tunnel. This cloud does have a silver lining. He gives you hope because he is your hope. As Job 11:18 says, “You will be secure because there is hope.” In Jeremiah 29:11 the Lord says, “I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a future with hope.”

Are you feeling like you’re trapped between a rock and a hard place? Then remember that the rock is the Rock of Ages!

Do you need hope in a hard place?

Listen to this story: one day a teacher who was assigned to visit children in a city hospital received a phone call requesting that she visit a specific child. His school teacher told her, “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework so he doesn’t fall behind the others.” It wasn’t until she got outside the boy’s room that she realized that it was located in the hospital’s burn unit. She felt that she couldn’t just turn and walk away, so she entered and told him, “I’m the hospital teacher, and your teacher sent me to help you with nouns and adverbs.”

The next morning a nurse on the burn unit asked her what she did to that boy. Before she could finish apologizing, the nurse interrupted her and said, “You don’t understand. We’ve been very worried about him. But ever since you were here yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He’s fighting back and responding to treatment. It’s as though he’s decided to live.” The boy later explained that he had completely given up hope, until he saw that teacher. Then he came to a simple realization. With joyful tears he said, “They wouldn’t send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?” That boy survived and recovered, all because of hope.

Keep looking and praying for a better future, all because of Jesus Christ our hope!

One thought on “Hope in a Hard Place”

  1. I am a volunteer with a small Quaker sponsorship group in Toronto whose title is Toronto Friends Sponsoring Refugees. This very cohesive Friends group brought a small 3-member Syrian family:(father, in automotive field) , mother, some english, is a professional cook, and their 4 yr old small son (speaks english) , moved recently to Windsor near Syrian relatives. They have medical and some financial support.
    This little family could use a friend or two in Windsor. They are very dear people.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.