Is There Hope........?

Have you felt that the pressure is too much to handle? Your work and targets are too high to even inspire confidence? A feeling  “am I really capable of doing this?” Is something wrong with me? And all these plethora of feelings that makes you believe that hope is just a good word for movies and novels. If the above is true then read on. Take the Bible and turn it to Isaiah Chapter 6:1.

Isaiah 6:1 says “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty; and the hem of his robe filled the temple.” My batchmate friend Sabu Issac says  this context of this verse is very simple. Young Isaiah goes to the Temple mourning the death of the good king Uzziah. He sees threat to his country. In his despair he sees only failure and doom. In such a context of missing the king he sees Yahweh, the Lord taking the role of the King. He was on the throne, high and lofty. This shows that when we lose something in life or see no hope , in such context God takes the position in the midst of our failures. He inspires us to go on. He says ‘I am Emmanuel’, God with you. When your confidence dies, God becomes your confidence. When the logic says there is no hope God says it is not over. For this let us turn our bible to Genesis 12: 1-3. Lets read it.

Genesis 12:1-3

 “Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.  I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is our favourite promise of God to Abraham. The promise to be a blessing, a promise to be a great nation. His name would be great and in him all the families of the Earth shall be blessed. But for that he had leave all the securities that he clinged to. Till this all looks familiar and also repetitive. But wait. Let us see what the context of this promise was. Let us read backwards.

Genesis 11: 30 “Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.” Abraham was seeing a future that had no hope. It was wrought with barrenness. In such a context of hopelessness and barrenness, God makes a promise. It was not a promise of just a case of being Blessed. It was more than that. It was a call to be a blessing. In a time when we cant see anything beyond ourselves, when all the problems is happening only with us, God in our barrenness is making a promise. Its a call, a commission, of not being healed, but to be healers. So then why these problems and sufferings? Why only me? God led the people in wilderness for 40 years. Why did he take such a long time? Why was so much misery brought on them? My Old Testament professor Rev Dr Geevarghese Mathew says “God is not interested in where you reach. He is interested in who you become.” So God in your barrenness and hopelessness is moulding you to be a blessing for others. Are we ready? Can we have a similar response like that of the young Isaiah who saw no hope and trembled in fear before he saw Yahweh, the Lord on the Throne? Let us read Isaiah 6:8 to see his response.

Isaiah 6:8  Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!”.

God does not meet you in a perfect state. He accepts you in your barrenness and despair. In this barrenness he moulds you to be fruitful and sends you as a missionary of his Blessings. He brings streams in our deserts to refresh our neighbours. Jesus said love your neighbours. It is not a simple statement. It is a call. When God asks “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”, are you ready to respond like Isaiah saying “Here am I. Send me!”?