"Hope For The Journey"

Hope For The Journey

Psalm 77:1-20 (NLT)

Three years ago, we embarked on a journey. We packed up our belongings and headed from Indiana to Arizona to begin a new life. I had been a pastor for a while and was led by God to have my family move from Indianapolis to Surprise to plant a new church. We didn’t know anyone. We were not “sent out.” We had no financial support to start a church other than what we had saved. The furniture that we wanted to keep along with our pots, pans, plates, tv’s and clothes had all been packed in boxes
and were shipped via a moving company. We even shipped one of our cars because it would not make the 3 day trip.

The most important thing that we took on this journey was something called hope. We were putting the past behind us. I was putting 53 years of life in Indiana and serving churches in Indiana behind me and I was looking forward to a new adventure.
We came here to Surprise, Arizona with hope for a good life, hope for healing, and hope for a successful ministry with the church we were coming to start.

My hope wasn’t a result of crying out because of sorrow – my hope was a result of anticipating the new life that God had in store. Rather than be anxious about picking up roots and resettling in a whole new state – I was placing my trust and hope in the God who called me. Last week – as we explored the connection between faith and emotions, I gave you a practical definition of “hope”. Hope is what enables us to see a silver lining around the dark clouds. Hope makes us look for a rainbow during the rainstorm. Hope is what causes us to sing out loud, “The sun will come out tomorrow, bet your bottom dollar that
tomorrow they’ll be sun.” I would add that hope is seeing the possibilities beyond the circumstances and opportunities that God gives to you each and every day.

I love the word “journey” as a metaphor for life – especially for our spiritual life with God. You and I are on a journey – not a physical journey – but a journey called life. And the most important thing we can take with us is that thing called “hope”.

Psalm 77 is attributed to Asaph – one of the primary musicians and choir directors in David’s court. One of his responsibilities as a musician was to sound the cymbals during special services. He was also recognized as a prophet and spiritual leader of Israel.

Psalm 77, following the method of many other psalms, begins with sorrowful complaints yet ends with expressions of comfort, hope, and encouragement. The complaints seem to be personal grievances, but the encouragements relate to the community at large. David was facing opposition as a King. Other men, including one of his sons, believed that they could do a better job at being King than David. David was aware of other nations who wanted him dead and gone. Asaph, the choir director and writer of this Psalm would have known about David’s worries and fears about his enemies; he might have even had similar fears since he was so close to the King.

The psalmist complains here of the deep impressions which his troubles have made upon his spirit, and the temptation he had in falling in despair to the worries he had. He encourages himself to hold onto hope as he remembers all that God has done for him and for his nation. He has hope that he and his nation would find healing and wholeness, strength and protection. We face troubles and hardships like David and Asaph.  Our obstacles may not be human enemies and armies but we, too, come up against situations, people, and circumstances that try and get us down.

And like the Psalmist we can have hope for our journey. We can have hope that leads us to reach for the hand of God.

One other thing about this “hope” is that God is able to move us beyond our circumstances, hurts and our fears – and give us a reason to have hope. Hope enables us to fly above the dark clouds of life because God is with us through Jesus Christ when we’re crying out to God or just feeling anxious.

Story

Ben was diagnosed with a brain tumor at the age of 16 years old. Hope is the one thing that kept his parents, Kevin and Laura moving forward. Hope is what kept them from giving up. His younger sister, Bethany, always kept her sights on the silver lining.

He went through a series of tests and a series of treatment. They discovered that the type of brain tumor he had was the same kind that took the life of his uncle a few years earlier. He underwent surgery that didn’t quite get all the tumor. Then he went through a variety of treatment that included chemo-therapy. Ben never lost his sense of humor or his compassion for other people through the ordeal.

Quote on hope…

Hope means to keep living amid desperation and to keep humming in the darkness. Hoping is knowing that there is love; it is trust in tomorrow; it is falling asleep and waking again when the sun rises.

In the midst of a gale at sea, it is to discover land. In the eyes of another, it is to see that he understands you. As long as there is still hope, there will also be prayer. And God will be holding you in his hands.

For six months Ben went through that treatment – and then they ran more tests. In the middle of it all they had celebrated his seventeenth birthday. Someone had given them tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs game. They lived their life together and kept hoping.

A month after his surgery – tests showed the tumor coming back. Ten months after he was diagnosed with the brain tumor, Ben died. Now for most of us that would have been the end of our hope, but not for Kevin and Laura. They have a different kind of hope today. They now hope for that day when they will be reunited with their son, Ben, in heaven.

Scriptures are filled with passages about hope.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 NLT

May our Lord Jesus Christ and God our Father, who loved us and in his special favor gave us everlasting comfort and good hope, 17 comfort your hearts and give you strength in every good thing you do and say.

1 Peter 1:21 NLT

Through Christ you have come to trust in God. And because God raised Christ from the dead and gave him great glory, your faith and hope can be placed confidently in God.

Psalm 94:18-19 NLT 

I cried out, “I’m slipping!” and your unfailing love, O LORD, supported me. 19 When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Throughout Scriptures, hope is the anticipation of something good. For those who follow Jesus Christ as Lord, hope is connected to the resurrection of our Lord. Hope is what leads us to the comforting arms of God. Hope is the force that ignites a light in a darkened soul. Hope is not only to make the life of an individual better – but communities can rediscover hope as well.

How do we find that hope?

Underneath every rock we encounter on our journey is grace. Behind every obstacle is something from which to learn and grow. We grow in our faith and we grow closer to God. God doesn’t want us to feel hopeless – rather God wants us to use our sorrows and rough spots and rocks of our journey to reach out to Him – to really take His hand. Three promises to hold onto…

First – When we come across a rock on our journey and we cry out to God. “God, this rock is in my way. Get rid of it God. It’s too big for me to handle.” And God says – “Use my strength to look under the rock. Trust me to help you turn it over and handle it.”

Romans 5:3-5 NIV

Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Those rocks – especially in the beginning of our journey help us learn to rely on God more and more.

Second – As we go further on our journey, we get the strength and courage to turn the rocks over with God’s help. And as we cry out to God and turn those rocks over we begin to remember all the other times God helped us around or over the other rocks on the pathway. Third – Remembering of what God has done before begins to draw us closer to God – and that is where the hope kicks in even more.

The God who comes to us in Jesus Christ is absolutely faithful – we can absolutely have hope in the God who raised Jesus from the grave.

Closing Illustration

Hope is what enables us to see that silver lining around the dark clouds. Hope makes us look for a rainbow during the rainstorm. Hope is seeing the possibilities beyond the circumstances and opportunities that God gives to you and every day.