Hope, a Fixed Anchor (ATW)
HOPE, A FIXED ANCHOR
Christian hope is a different sort of thing from other kinds. The real essence of the word is trust.
When Lazarus died, the hopes of his two loving sisters, Mary and Martha, were dashed. Jesus, hearing the news, did not hurry to the house but stayed where He was for two more days. When He finally got to Bethany both sisters greeted Him with the same words: “If only You had been here, Lord!”
Jesus said, “I Myself am the resurrection.” This is our hope. It is a living thing. It is, in fact, Christ Himself. It is also something to live by. When our hopes for healing or success or the solution to a problem or freedom from financial distress seem to come to nothing, we feel just as Mary and Martha did. Jesus might have done something about it, but He didn’t. We lie awake thinking about all the “if onlys.” We wonder if it is somehow our fault that the thing didn’t work. We doubt whether prayer is of any use after all. Is God up there? Is He listening? Does He care?
Mary and Martha had envisioned His coming and raising a sick man from his bed. He came too late. Unfortunately Lazarus was dead—so dead, Martha pointed out, that decomposition would have set in. It had not crossed their minds that they were about to see an even more astonishing thing than the one they had hoped for—a swaddled corpse answering the Master’s call and walking, bound and muffled, out of the tomb.
The truth of the story is that God knew what was happening. Nothing was separating the grieving women from His love. He heard their prayers, counted their tears, held His peace. But He was faithful and He was at work. He had a grand miracle in mind.
The duration of my suffering may be longer than that of Lazarus’s sisters, but if I believe, trust, flee to God for refuge, I am safe even in my sorrow. I am held by the confidence of God’s utter trustworthiness. He is at work, producing miracles I haven’t imagined. I must wait for them.