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Hope Against Distress
What was the prophet’s way out of the surrounding social and interpersonal problems? Mic. 7:1–7.
Micah describes a complete smorgasbord of immoral, unethical, and aggressive acts present in his time in just the first six verses. Oppression and abuse of various kinds, lack of respect and consideration, corruption, and deceit have all been present since the inception of sin. We all face it even today. Just take today’s newspaper, and you can find a direct correlation with Israel’s misery at that time. This sociological chaos becomes especially hurtful when touching close to home—neighbor, friend, spouse, child, parent (Mic. 7:5, 6).
Highly defective interpersonal relationships cause much stress and are associated with depression. Clearly stated by Micah (vs. 7), the conclusive ingredient to survive in the middle of a crisis is hope.
Hope is essential to live our lives with a reasonable amount of mental health. Hope must be alive even for the unbeliever—youth in search of employment must hope that they’ll find a job, a lost traveler will hope to find his way, and investors who have lost their money must believe that there will be better times. Living with zero hope leads to meaninglessness and death.
When Italian philosopher and poet Dante Alighieri (A.D. 1265–1321) attempted to describe hell in his Divine Comedy, he envisioned a big sign at the entrance saying: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!” The worst possible punishment is to deprive someone of hope.
The kind of hope presented in the Bible goes beyond positive anticipation. It encompasses an eventual perfect solution and salvation based on redemption through Jesus Christ. The historic “blessed hope” of Seventh-day Adventists must become the focal point of our lives. Hoping for Jesus’ return helps us to gain perspective over the many unpleasant things that surround us and allows us to look in confidence toward eternity.
Look at these promises. What hope is offered there for us? Isa. 65:17, 2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:2–4. Why, in one sense, is this the only hope for any of us?
A vision of faith in the new creation can reassure the suffering soul. In the same way that a woman in childbirth contemplates the final result of her child being born and soon “forgets the anguish” (John 16:21, NIV), the troubled soul can, by God’s grace, gain hope with the vision of a caring God who promises us a new world without any of the things that bring so much sadness to us in this one.
| THURSDAY | February 10 |
What was the prophet’s way out of the surrounding social and interpersonal problems? Mic. 7:1–7.
Micah describes a complete smorgasbord of immoral, unethical, and aggressive acts present in his time in just the first six verses. Oppression and abuse of various kinds, lack of respect and consideration, corruption, and deceit have all been present since the inception of sin. We all face it even today. Just take today’s newspaper, and you can find a direct correlation with Israel’s misery at that time. This sociological chaos becomes especially hurtful when touching close to home—neighbor, friend, spouse, child, parent (Mic. 7:5, 6).
Highly defective interpersonal relationships cause much stress and are associated with depression. Clearly stated by Micah (vs. 7), the conclusive ingredient to survive in the middle of a crisis is hope.
Hope is essential to live our lives with a reasonable amount of mental health. Hope must be alive even for the unbeliever—youth in search of employment must hope that they’ll find a job, a lost traveler will hope to find his way, and investors who have lost their money must believe that there will be better times. Living with zero hope leads to meaninglessness and death.
When Italian philosopher and poet Dante Alighieri (A.D. 1265–1321) attempted to describe hell in his Divine Comedy, he envisioned a big sign at the entrance saying: “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here!” The worst possible punishment is to deprive someone of hope.
The kind of hope presented in the Bible goes beyond positive anticipation. It encompasses an eventual perfect solution and salvation based on redemption through Jesus Christ. The historic “blessed hope” of Seventh-day Adventists must become the focal point of our lives. Hoping for Jesus’ return helps us to gain perspective over the many unpleasant things that surround us and allows us to look in confidence toward eternity.
Look at these promises. What hope is offered there for us? Isa. 65:17, 2 Pet. 3:13, Rev. 21:2–4. Why, in one sense, is this the only hope for any of us?
A vision of faith in the new creation can reassure the suffering soul. In the same way that a woman in childbirth contemplates the final result of her child being born and soon “forgets the anguish” (John 16:21, NIV), the troubled soul can, by God’s grace, gain hope with the vision of a caring God who promises us a new world without any of the things that bring so much sadness to us in this one.
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