Faith Leads to Hope
Job14:7-15; 19:23-27
Pentecost
+ 3 – June 21, 2020
Intro: Princess Bride
· Love story about Buttercup and Wesley – Princess Buttercup engaged to Prince Humperdink, though in love with Wesley
· And has told the prince that she does not want to marry him; later discovers that Humperdink has not sent his ships to find Wesley and bring him home as promised
o But defiantly says that it doesn’t matter – “Wesley will come for me anyway”, she says
o Even at rushed wedding ceremony, when it might seem to be too late, hearing the commotion outside, she exults, “here comes my Wesley now” – to which Humperdink retorts – “your Wesley is dead – I killed him myself”
§ “Then why is there fear behind your eyes?” Buttercup asks
§ Yet moments later, she is despondent as the priest declares “Man and wife” and she is escorted back to her room by the elderly king – “he didn’t come”
§ a moment of despair when it seems all hope is gone
In chapter 14, we find Job in a similar moment of despair
· “there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again… “ but “mortals lie down and do not rise again… they will not awake or be roused out of their sleep”
· Last week we saw Job cursing the day of his birth, and even the night when he was conceived, wishing that night had never been – and this week, we find him longing for Sheol – the place of darkness and nothingness/non-existence; wishing that God would hide him there because this existence just seems too painful in this moment
· Job is hopeless
Sometimes things feel hopeless for us or those we love too
· After a long time of suffering, it can seem like nothing will ever change
o Whether that’s from a physical illness or debilitating disease or chronic pain that has no answer
o Addiction
o Grief
o Anxiety or depression
o In these days of COVID 19, even if we aren’t suffering from that virus, it kind of seems unending – the uncertainty about when life will truly return to normal, anxiety about best practices to follow to protect ourselves and our loved ones, worry about the continued financial fall out
o Ongoing social and systemic problems that have been brought to light by injustice and oppression recorded on a cell phone
· Sometimes healing and improvement and true and lasting change can seem hopeless – it can seem that God doesn’t hear, that God is absent, not showing up when we need to feel God most
Just as Buttercup sank into despair and planned to take her own life, Wesley speaks
· Though he was delayed, he has arrived to rescue her
· Past experience with him that had caused her to believe that he would come back was justified
· Even his own death could not keep him from her – “Death cannot stop true love – it can only delay it for a little while”
And so too with Job – Job’s past experience of God before all of the tragedy and pain of recent days leads him to have faith
· Despite all of his trouble, Job has trust somehow that God will hear him, that God will see him, that God will ultimately answer
o
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
· No matter how long God is delayed, Job trusts and believes and hopes that God will show up, that he will see God face to face
· And so Job tenaciously holds on to that hope, even as he cries out in lament and questioning and despair
Because of our relationship with God, because of our past experiences with God, we too can have faith that God will hear us, that God will ultimately answer us when we cry out
· Because we know that our Redeemer, Jesus, lives
· And even his death did not, cannot, will not stop his true love for us
· Jesus lives, Jesus calls us forth from the depths of Sheol, and one day, we shall see him face to face.
· May this truth give us strength to hold on to hope, even in the depths of despair.
· Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment