Over 1,500 Christians in Iraq have been murdered within the last several weeks.
1.2 million innocent lives were taken by abortion in the last year.
163 million children live alone and unloved as orphans.
27 million people are trapped as human slaves in the trafficking system.
150,000 people died and went to hell today.
The power and atrocities of ISIS hold the attention of news cameras world-wide. Behind the scenes, children are subjected to injustice beyond imagination.... some abandoned and left to die, some abused and sold for the pleasure of others, others murdered before they've even had a chance to breathe. And in the midst of it all is a church that doesn't feel their pain, can't make themselves care, and are blinded to the burdens of their King. Members of the church itself died and went to hell today, because they never believed.
Despair. Depression. Hopelessness.
Betsie Ten Boom lived the last and most difficult days of her life in a Nazi prison camp. She was physically, mentally, and emotionally tortured by guards and health issues. She witnessed the Holocaust first-hand, and became one of its victims. She lived inside the hopelessness..... but it could not touch her. When she looked at the cruel, empty walls of the prison, she saw something beautiful. God gave her visions of goodness, and love, and rejoicing. She saw a place where the people who had been hurt by the cruelty of the camps would be healed, and know Christ; not somewhere far away, but in that very prison camp, with those enslaving walls painted green. And not just the victims; she saw a place where even the perpetrators of the Holocaust could be led to redemption.
She saw beauty, where there was none. She saw Christ, when no one else could. She was, as Zechariah 9:12 calls it, a "prisoner of hope".
Isn't it interesting how we tend to approach the world? We blame God for the bad things, and take the good things He has given us for granted. We act as though we deserve blessings, and are angry if we don't receive them. What if you were to change your mindset?
Every day is undeserved. It's a kiss from heaven; a sweet drop of clear, flawless purity, trickling down the soft folds of a rose as its surface meets the first rays of the morning's smile.
Every moment is a treasure.... a precious love letter, and a chance to cherish the beauty of a Supernatural presence enveloping the world with a depth beyond fathom.
Every breath is priceless. It's a new expression of the life of God breathed into the lungs of His creation; a reminder that this second is new and marks the beginning of the rest of your life.
I am a prisoner of HOPE.
What if, instead of noticing the bad, we were able to truly rejoice in the good? What if we could see past the difficult moments, to hear God's promises of joy on the other side? What if we treasured those raindrops instead of destroying them? What if every breath was priceless to us? What if we looked past the hopelessness of the world, to the God of all power and goodness, who wept with the world when death took a life he had created, but defeated death and raised the broken to life just verses later?
Hope does not mean that we are happy because of suffering. It's not simply finding the silver lining in the rain cloud. It's more than just being the optimist, telling everyone around you to rejoice, or trying to put on a false outlook and pretending that there is good when you see none. Hope is nearness to the heart of God Himself... resting in His presence, and letting your eyes see the beauty that He sees in the ordinary. Hope is not just a feeling of "happiness"... it feels God's heart for the oppressed, and brings with it His tears for the brokenness of the world. And yet it is the promise that the Enemy will not have the final say.
Lamentations 3 is one of the most beautiful Hope chapters I have ever read. It is not written in a tone of happiness; you feel the fullness of the suffering of God's people when you read it. At times, Jeremiah, the author, doesn't even understand why it is happening, and feels abandoned by God. "Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope."
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more." (Revelation 21:4)
"I know the plans I have for you.... to prosper you, not to harm you. (Jeremiah 29:11)
"I will heal my people." (Jeremiah 33:6)
"My God has promised, and He cannot lie."
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