Without Hope
30 Days in Ruth and Esther - day 23
We rarely feel the depths of true hope until we also feel the depths of genuine hopelessness. Joy is most genuine when it follows despair, and peace is never as sweet as it is after turmoil.
In varying degrees, every life must deal with troubles. We err when we leave the impression that Christianity bypasses hardship, or that trials signal God’s disfavor or a defective faith.
Mordecai and the Jewish people entered into a time of deep sorrow and mourning. It is never portrayed as if they had done something wrong in this. Nor do we see the interjection of the idea that if they had enough faith they would have been happy and would have believed it was all going to work out fine.
No. They saw life as it was—and it grieved them deeply.
I say all of this because it could be that you need to know that it is okay to feel deeply the grief, anger, distress, and sadness that life’s troubles can create in you. I am not saying we should remain there. But I am saying this: you have done no wrong by feeling and expressing your pain.
The great mourning, fasting, weeping, wailing, and laying in sackcloth and ashes of Mordecai and the Jewish people—the deep distress of Esther...these things are not condemned.
And as we shall see, they are the very things that led to the great joy they all experience at the end of the story.
As the Psalmist wrote, those who weep in the night feel most deeply joy in the morning. Those who know the great weight of sin’s guilt know best the release of God’s grace in Jesus Christ.
Thank you Steve. My mother is going through health struggles & it is a difficult time. Thank you for this reminder.