How Do We Find Hope When The World Is Screaming Around Us?

“Hope is a whisper in a world that shouts. But listen for it.  Listen for it. Listen for it.”

Liz Newman

This week in the US we all just held our breath. The presidential debates happened. It was a train wreck, and we all just watched that train chug a long right into that wall. I am not going to make my political preferences known, as a military mom, I keep those very private beliefs largely within the sphere to those who know me to protect my kids that serve. I don’t know about you all, but I couldn’t watch the whole thing. I must admit, the whole debate stole a little of my hope. But then I remembered, as believers our hope is in God, not men. As I was scrolling through the news catching the highlights of the debate, I came across a reel comparing the debate in 2012 between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. They shook hands, they politely greeted one another and tried to remain civil. Fast forward to the last several years. People are yelling, hurling insults and generally being terrible to one another. It causes you to have a massive eye roll.

Hope Springs Eternal

In 1734 Alexander Pope wrote “An Essay on Man.” In that writing he coined the phrase, “Hope springs eternal in the human breast; Man never is, but always to be blest.” What does that mean? It means that even when the situation looks bleak, there is always hope and faith within us to find that well spring of hope. You may have to do a little digging. There may be times you will have to search keenly. But there is hope to be found. Right now in the south the dog days of summer are here. Stepping outside is like stepping into a hot box. Some folks like it. I am not a huge fan. I always appreciate the summer mornings but I look forward to the next glorious season. The gorgeous colorful days of fall. This brought to mind life and its seasons. Much like Fall, Winter, Spring and Summer, the life seasons change.

There are several stories in the Bible that garner hope

Yesterday I read a meme that read: You are not in your worst season. One season David was a shepherd. The next season he was a king! One season Ruth was working in a field. The next season she owned that field. One season Mordecai was sitting outside the king’s palace. The next season he was inside the palace. We serve a God who turns things around for good.

David was not born into royalty. He was a humble shepherd.

Can you imagine being a shepherd in a field knowing that this would be your life? To some that might just be heavenly. To others they might think, “Is this it?” In the book of Samuel in the Old Testament, Samuel was led by God to Bethlehem. There he found David, a shepherd and a talented musician. He was brought to King Saul’s court to play for him. David’s playing soothed Saul’s fractured spirit. At that time, the Israeli people were involved in a war with the Philistines. Much to their dismay, they encountered the giant Goliath. While everyone cowered in fear, David took on Goliath with a sling and a rock. This act at first garnered much favor for David with the king. After the passing of time, the King became very jealous of David and sought to kill him. With much haste, David fled to enemy territory for his life. As the battles continued on with the Philistines, King Saul and his sons perished in battle. Saul had lost God’s favor. After that, David was anointed King of Israel. If you ever take some time to read Psalms, David pours out his heart to God. He has times where he praises God to the heavens, other times he is in the depths of despair. In all of those writings, he never loses his hope in God through each life season.

Ruth lost her first husband but gained much more with her faith and devotion

Ruth was a woman who married an Israelite man. She left her home and family to live in Israel. After a time, she lost her husband. Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi lost her husband and her sons. Ruth could not bear to leave her mother-in-law alone with no one. Ruth coined the phrase, “Where you go I will go, where you stay is where I will stay. Your people will be my people.” That is a testament to faith and loyalty. When they returned to Naomi’s home where they lived humbly. One day Ruth was in a field, gleaning what was left behind after harvest when she caught the eye of the land owner, Boaz. He fell in love with her and they married. It was then that Ruth did indeed own the field. Can you imagine that she had times where she had to search for that nugget of hope? I can. Ruth was the great grandmother of King David. I’d say that is a picture of hope.

Mordecai started at the palace gate, but ascended to the palace

In the time of Mordecai, the Jews were in captivity in Babylon. Mordecai had a cousin named Esther who he raised as his own. He had a job at the palace gate. As you can imagine, the gate was filled with gossip. As Esther grew in age and beauty, she was selected to be the Queen to King Xerxes. One particular day, Mordecai heard of a plot to assassinate the king. When he was in possession of this knowledge, he told Esther, and Esther told the king. Once the king was in possession of this knowledge, the plot was stopped and Mordecai’s name was recorded in the king’s chronicles. Mordecai’s troubles were just beginning after his heroic act. There was another man named Haman who was an official in the king’s court. He hated Mordecai because he would not offer him homage or bow to him. Mordecai’s faith did not allow him to bow to anyone but God. In his blind hatred, Haman made a plot to kill all of the Jews. He poisoned the king’s mind with vile tales of the people and the king did indeed set a date for destruction. Because of this decree, Mordecai told Esther of the evil plot. He implored Esther to visit the king and tell him to save their people. Esther knew that it could be death to visit the king unannounced. In her hesitation these uplifting words were uttered by Mordecai.”Who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” In other words, perhaps God placed her there to save the Jewish people. Esther, bolstered by Mordecai’s words did see the king and implore him to save her people. After that, Haman was hung on the gallows that he had erected for Mordecai. He was elevated to second in rank after the king. Again, there were times I am sure there were times where they were clinging to what little hope they had.

How do these stories give us hope?

How do these stories give us hope? We can know that these stories given to us are human stories. They had times when things were not all coming up roses. Right now, groceries are expensive. Our politicians are yelling at one another. It seems that every voice that can be nasty has a megaphone that is on the loudest sound setting possible. We can find hope. Reach out to your neighbor. Check on your neighbor. Don’t walk through life blindly ignoring the world’s problems by any means. But rather, don’t dwell there. I have a theory, that if you stay in an echo box of hate. You will start to hate. An echo box of no varying ideas? You won’t learn. If you stay in an echo box of one opinion? That will never change your opinion for the better. Stay in a place of challenging your ideas. A place of kindness, gentleness, a place that advocates listening quietly rather than yelling adversely. There will always be those situations where it’s hard to navigate, but you have something on your side. Hope. Faith. Prayer. Cling to those tenets. Let them be your dwelling place and hope will indeed, spring eternal. I leave you with the words of Desmond Tutu. “Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness.”