This morning, I’d like to consider the topic of "hope". Is hope important? Is it something we need? Is it essential to our happiness, essential even to our survival? For an answer to that question, we could probably talk to the nine coal miners who were rescued this week in Pennsylvania. They spent more than three days trapped 240 feet underground, not knowing if they would ever again see the light of day, or whether the water-filled mine they had been working in would become their tomb. We all know the story by now. Watching the drama unfold, we learned that the miners had accidentally breached the wall of an old abandoned mine shaft, filled with millions of gallons of water. As their own tunnel began to flood, they retreated to an air pocket, only four feet high, where they crouched together in the cold, wet, darkness, praying and waiting for someone to come. And finally, someone did. First, a six-inch shaft was drilled to pump in warm, pressurized air. That kept the water at bay; it also provided oxygen for the men to breathe, and helped protect them against hypothermia. Then, giant pumps were used to draw water out of the mine, preventing the water level from rising. And finally, a shaft was drilled, large enough to drop a rescue capsule and bring the men up, one at a time, almost eighty hours after their ordeal began. All alive, all healthy, all grateful to be alive.
What sustained these men during their living nightmare? Cold, wet, hungry, exhausted. Not knowing what was going on above them, not knowing if they would ever see their families again. What kept them going? And what sustained the rescue workers, and the families? What kept them from giving up, what kept them from giving in to despair? Hope. An editorial yesterday in a Mississippi newspaper put it this way: "teamwork and hope helped to save the nine trapped miners in Pennsylvania". At one point, the CNN reporter on the scene remarked , "There’s a lot of hope here." And the pastor of two of the families who had relatives trapped in the mine, Reverend Glenn Sadler, said the same thing, that they were living "totally in hope."
Hope is what brought them through. Hope in the face of very long odds. Yes, they made use of the best equipment available. They brought in the most experienced and knowledgeable people. But from the very beginning, the likelihood of bringing up all nine miners, alive and healthy, was very small. Many things could have gone wrong, and did go wrong. For example, at one point the drill bit being used to create the rescue shaft broke; it took eighteen hours to bring out the pieces and start again. The system for pumping in pressurized air, which proved key to their survival, had never been tried before. The miners were at risk of developing hypothermia from the cold water; they were also at risk of getting the "bends" from breathing the pressurized air. But most seriously of all, the rescuers had no certain knowledge of where the men even were. They had no way of communicating with them, no way of determining exactly where in the maze of underground tunnels they had gone to escape the rising waters. And so the location of the air pocket where they had gathered was a matter of informed guesswork. David Hess, the state secretary of environmental protection, called it a "one in a million shot" that the six-inch air shaft they drilled would hit the precise spot where the men were located. "Those guys could have been anywhere down there," he said in an interview. And so the miners and their families couldn’t rely on the machinery, or on the expertise of the rescuers. They had to rely on faith and hope. And that was what kept them going, kept them alive. Without hope and without faith, the outcome might have been very different.
I mention this incident because there are many people today who feel like those miners. Trapped, isolated, suffering, fearful of the future. People who feel abandoned by God; who wonder if God cares, or even sees, what they’re going through. People who are on the verge of giving up. For example, many people today feel trapped in a marriage that seems hopelessly unfulfilling. Tied to a marriage partner who seems incapable of positive change; a husband or wife who is completely self-absorbed, unwilling to make even the smallest effort to meet their needs. In their mind, they face, not death by drowning, but a living death of emotional suffocation. Or perhaps they feel trapped in a dead-end job or an unrewarding career. Some of you here this morning may be going through a season of suffering, as these miners did, not knowing if you’ll ever experience relief. Perhaps it’s physical pain, from arthritis, or migraine headaches, or cancer, or angina, or a thousand other ailments. Or perhaps it’s emotional pain, from an abusive childhood or destructive life experiences. Painful memories. Missed opportunities. Mistakes. Regrets. Things said and done which can’t be unsaid and undone. Fears. Anxieties. Worries. Suffering that no one else can truly understand. And through it all you’re wondering where God is. Doesn’t he see? Doesn’t he care? Why doesn’t he do something?
If any of that hits home with you, then I have good news. God does see. He does care. And He will give you the hope you need, He will lift that cloud of despair, He will give you the strength to persevere, if you will listen to the Scriptures and follow their guidance; if you will trust in God and trust in His word. And this morning, I’m going to tell you how you can do just that.
First, our hope must be grounded on the conviction that God is with us. That’s fundamental. During those long days that the miners were trapped beneath the earth, they needed to know that they were not alone. They had to believe that there were people who cared for them, people who were working feverishly to bring them to the surface, and who would not rest until they had been returned safely to their families. Even though they couldn’t see or hear the rescuers, their hope depended on the conviction that they were there. And likewise, we must be convinced - no matter how desperate our situation may appear, no matter how pleasant or unpleasant our circumstances - we must be convinced that God has not abandoned us. He has not forgotten us. He has not left us to our own devices, to cope as best we can with the challenges of life. He is not just a god "out there," a god who created the world, placed us in it, and then sat back to see what would happen. By no means. He is here, with us and for us, through all the ups and downs of our lives, through all our joys and sorrows. Our God is a personal God, and He is with us, every moment of every day. Listen to these promises of God’s unceasing presence in the lives of His people:
"Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor forsake you." - Deuteronomy 31:8, NLT
"The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O Lord, have never abandoned anyone who searches for you." - Psalm 9:9-10, NLT
"Yet Jerusalem says, ’The LORD has deserted us; the Lord has forgotten us.’ Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for a child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you!" - Isaiah 49:14-15, NLT
This morning, we dedicated little Henry L____. Can we imagine that his mother Amy would have so little concern for his welfare that she would abandon her own child? Just leave him here; forget to take him home? No. Of course not. And it is even less conceivable that God would do that. As strong as the love of a mother for her own child is; God’s love for us is far stronger. He will not and cannot ever leave us. Listen to how Jesus describes his relationship with us:
"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. A hired hand will run when he sees a wolf coming. . . .The hired hand runs away because he is merely hired and has no real concern for the sheep. I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep." - John 10:11-15, NLT
Like a shepherd, Christ is always watching over his people, providing for them, protecting them, making sure that no harm comes to them except by the sovereign will of God. Unlike a hired hand, he won’t leave when trouble comes. On the contrary, it’s at those times that his true nature is most evident. Christ proves his love for us by sticking by us in every circumstance. There is literally nothing which can separate us from his love, as Paul reminds us in this familiar passage:
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:35, 37-39
No matter how bleak or discouraging our circumstances may appear, there are always grounds for hope, because we are not alone. God is with us. And He is not merely present, but watchful and active. God is present in our lives, not merely as a passive observer, but as the active, sovereign ruler of the universe and the loving Lord of our lives.
Nevertheless, we have to admit that there are times when God’s face is hidden from view. We strain our eyes looking for the signs of His presence, but can see nothing but darkness. As far as we can tell, as far as we can discern with our mind and our senses, God is completely absent. We pray, we read the Bible, we follow Christ as best we know how, and yet - our circumstances don’t improve. They may even get worse. How are we supposed to continue trusting in God’s love and goodness and wisdom, when we can find no tangible grounds for that trust? How can we continue to willingly place our lives in His hands, when the result is disappointment, and pain and sorrow?
To fully answer that question would take more than just one sermon. But it’s essential that we have an answer, or else our faith will eventually crumble. If our faith is based on the expectation of any specific outcome, no matter how good or desirable it may seem to us, we are setting ourselves up for a fall. Why? Because we are not God. And so our view of what’s good and best is necessarily limited, incomplete, even faulty. Only God can see the whole picture; only God can see the end from the beginning. Only God truly understands how suffering and struggle can work out for the best in our lives. As He reminds us, speaking through the prophet Isaiah:
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." - Isaiah 55:8-9
In other words, He is God and we are not. And so we have a choice. We can either trust God, or we can judge God. But we can’t do both. You can either believe what the Scriptures teach, that God is acting in a wise and loving manner toward you at all times, that he is sovereignly guiding the events of your life for your ultimate good - or you can be angry and bitter and miserable. The choice, quite simply, is between faith and unbelief. As Paul wrote to the Corinthian church, "We live by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7). And to the same church, he also wrote these words:
"Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see fact to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known." - 1 Corinthians 13:12
What this means is that we don’t yet see clearly all that God is doing, and we shouldn’t expect to. Likewise, the author of Hebrews tells us that, "faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." (Hebrews 11:1) Faith means continuing to believe in God and trust in His goodness, even when we don’t at all understand what He’s doing in our lives. The problem is that many who claim to follow Christ are still trying to live by sight instead of faith, and it just doesn’t work. They look at their difficult circumstances, and they say, "What’s going on here? I don’t understand. Something must be wrong." When in fact nothing is wrong, except that God is doing something in their lives that they don’t approve of.
But, you may respond, if my hope isn’t based on what I can see, on what I can perceive happening in my life, then what should it be based on? What is solid enough to anchor my hope on, so that it’s not tossed about and dashed to pieces by the turbulence of my life? And the answer is that our hope must be anchored in the promises of God. The promises concerning His goodness, and wisdom, and love, and power. We must hold fast to these, even as the storms of life are raging, if we’re to keep our grip on hope and keep the ship of our life on course. As John Piper puts it, in his book, "Future Grace," we must be patient both with the place and the pace of God’s purposes; content to be where God chooses to place us, and also content to let God work in our lives at the pace He chooses . In other words, we must believe, regardless of our circumstances, that God is working out all things in our life for good. And we do that by continually reminding ourselves of the promises of God, promises such as these:
"’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ’plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’" - Jeremiah 29:11
"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. . . . What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:28, 31-32
"However, as it is written: ’No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’" - 1 Corinthians 2:9
"[God] is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us . . . ." - Ephesians 3:20
And these are just the tip of the iceberg. The pages of the Bible are filled with God’s promises, every one of them sure and certain. So read your Bible. Underline and highlight the promises, so that when you need to be reminded of them, they will be right at your fingertips.
I’d like to close with a story from the Old Testament, one which illustrates the attitude we ought to have toward God’s work in our lives. It takes place during the time that Israel was under the control of Babylon. The pagan king Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image, an idol, ninety feet high, which all the people were to worship. Worshiping idols was of course contrary to the Jewish religion, and so three of his Jewish officials, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, refused to do as he commanded. Enraged, king Nebuchadnezzar had them brought before him, and warned that if they did not worship the image, they would be thrown immediately into a blazing furnace. Their response is priceless:
"Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, ’O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." - Daniel 3:16-18
Did God save them? Yes. They were thrown into the furnace, and God did protect them. But here’s the point: Ultimately, it didn’t matter to these three whether God delivered them or not. They were content to do the right thing and place their confidence in God, regardless of the consequences. They were willing to rely on the Lord’s wisdom and power and goodness, even if it led to their death. And that should be our attitude also. Yes, if God chooses to do so, He can change our circumstances. He can relieve our suffering. And perhaps He will. But even if he doesn’t, we will continue to trust in him. Why? Because we walk by faith, and not by sight. Because we believe in His promises. And because we know, beyond any doubt, that He loves us. God has already given for us the greatest thing he could possibly give, that which was most precious to him, and that’s the life of his son. Jesus Christ died so that we might be forgiven. And therefore, we know that He will never withhold from us any good thing. That is our hope and our confidence, both now and throughout eternity.
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
