Hope amidst Hopelessness: Thursday

Thursday March 11, 2021

Created by Mary Clare Kunkel

Job 14:18–22 (NRSV)

18 “But the mountain falls and crumbles away,

and the rock is removed from its place;

19 the waters wear away the stones;

the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;

so you destroy the hope of mortals.

20 You prevail forever against them, and they pass away;

you change their countenance, and send them away.

21 Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;

they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.

22 They feel only the pain of their own bodies,

and mourn only for themselves.”

In the book of Job, the titular character struggles with losing everything in his life. He understandably questions God during his ongoing misfortune. Job laments the inevitability of destruction in an all too familiar spiral of pessimism. Since this time last year, we too have lost many things including our normal way of life and over two million people. It’s earnestly very hard to muster up hope these days. It’s okay for us to lament just as Job did. It’s okay for us to question God. It’s been a very human urge since the days of the Old Testament. However, even when we can’t see hope or we feel like God might even be the one destroying it, hope is still out there lurking.

Take a moment to close your eyes. Picture something that makes you smile. Feel the corners of your lips tug upward and joy spread across your face as you lean into the memory. Rest in that feeling for a moment. When hope can’t be seen in the present remember hope and rest in hope returning in the future.

Prayer

Good and gracious God, help us to find hope in this weary season. Amen.