Finding Hope In Troubled Times
Rainbows, like this one I saw over Lake George, remind me to have hope in God: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God…will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:6-7).
When news media makes me anxious, I turn it off and pray for our leaders (no matter their politics) because they must work together for our good: “I urge…that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This…pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (I Timothy 2:1-4). About leaders: “Do not put your trust in princes, in human beings, who cannot save…Blessed are those whose…hope is in the Lord their God (Psalm 146:3-5). Afterall, God “deposes kings and raises up others (Daniel 2:21).
I try to keep my mind on all the good things: ”whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable..think about such things" (Phil. 4:8). “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks” (1 Thess. 5:16-18).
I pray for a healing of national division: Abraham Lincoln paraphrased Jesus: “A house divided against itself cannot stand” (Matthew 12:25). He nationalized Thanksgiving during the Civil War to promote unity and “fervently implore…the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation.” Mrs. Lincoln’s dressmaker recounted the source of Lincoln's hope: “One day he came into the room where I was fitting a dress on Mrs. Lincoln. His.. face sad…He reached forth one of his long arms, and took a small Bible from a stand near the head of the sofa, opened the pages of the holy book, and soon was absorbed in reading them. A quarter of an hour passed, and on glancing at the sofa the face of the President…was lighted up with new resolution and hope…A ruler of a mighty nation going to the pages of the Bible with simple Christian earnestness for comfort and courage, and finding both in the darkest hours of a nation's calamity” (Keckley, E.).
Despite our political differences: “You must love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:31). “Love is patient, love is kind…it keeps no record of wrongs.” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). We are to “Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, quarreling, and slander be put away from you…forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you in the Messiah” (Ephesians 4:31-32).
Love is hard when politicians and opinionated reporters stir up hatred and “go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). I relieve frustration by calling legislators about concerning issues, trying to get bills passed, and by praying. Jesus said we “should always pray and not give up…will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?” (Luke 18:1--7).
When the bad feels overwhelming: “There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be…lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous…lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:1-4).
About our troubles, Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest…learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). Afterall, “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10).
The Bible tells us what to expect in the future: “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. ‘Tell us,’ they said, ‘when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’”(Matthew 24:3) Jesus said, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places...Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world…and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:7-14).
Are we in the end times? When Israel became a nation again on May 14, 1948, it may have kicked off the end of the end times: “Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day?...For as soon as Zion was in labor
she brought forth her children (Isaiah 66:8). "’I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they shall rebuild the ruined cities and inhabit them...
they shall never again be uprooted out of the land that I have given them,’ says the Lord your God“
(Amos 9:14-15). Yet, nations will attack Israel: “It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples;
all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.” (Zechariah 12:3).
About Israel and the Jews: The Lord said to Abraham about his nation: “I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3). Jesus told a Samaritan woman, “salvation is from the Jews” (John 4:22). Later, apostle Paul wrote, “What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew… Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.” (Romans 3:1–2).
Gentiles should help Jews when needed: “For if the Gentiles have shared in the Jews’ spiritual blessings, they owe it to the Jews to share with them their material blessings” (Romans 15:27).
When Jews rejected Jesus’ first coming, did God reject them? Apostle Paul said “By no means!…at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace” (Romans 11:1-5).
Wonder if Jesus even existed? Jesus’s life is a fact because He was mentioned beyond the Bible, such as in the writings of Jewish historian Josephus. What we all have to decide: is Jesus who he said he was and did He really rise from the dead?
After Jesus’ death, a disciple confirmed Isaiah’s prophecy was about Jesus: “Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the [Ethiopian eunuch) reading Isaiah the prophet. ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ Philip asked. ‘How can I,’ he said, ‘unless someone explains it to me?’ So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading: ‘He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth. In his humiliation he was deprived of justice. Who can speak of his descendants? For his life was taken from the earth’ [Isaiah 53:7-8]. The eunuch asked Philip, ‘Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?’ Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:26-35). (An Isaiah scroll dated 100 BC was among the Dead Sea Scrolls found in 1947.)
Becoming a Christian: ”If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9).
NEED HOPE YOUR PROBLEMS WILL END?
With Biblical prophecies coming true, perhaps the Rapture is imminent: “then we that are alive…shall..be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air…Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (I Thess 4:17-18); Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left” (Matthew 24:40).
Some believe a “Great Tribulation” is prophesied to occur after the Rapture – when a clever leader will solve the world’s problems. But he will later reveal himself as the “antichrist” – people won't be able to buy or sell without his mark. Then destruction will come and the Second Coming of Christ (some Jews believe this is the first coming of the Messiah). Jesus will come with His saints to reign on the earth: “In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east” (Zechariah 14:4).
NEED PROOF THAT GOD EXISTS?
1) We have a conscience: “Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law...They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” (Romans 2:14-15); and 2) Nature testifies of God: “For his invisible attributes… have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made” (Romans 1:20).
Bible prophecies have come true: “King Louis XIV of France asked [for] proof of God…‘Your Majesty, the Jews!’ That the tiny Jewish nation survived 2,000 years of exile and persecution was nothing short of a supernatural phenomenon...It has been prophesied in the Torah that Jews would
be an eternal nation” (“Jews Beat the Odds,” Sun-Sentinal.com, 2001).
JESUS AND PROPHACIES FORTELLING HIM:
Jesus proclaimed Isaiah’s prophecy was about him: “And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to [Jesus]. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor’ [Isaiah 61:1]. And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:17-30). "Forunto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom…” (Isaiah 9:6) “will make you …a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind“ (42:6-7) “...yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed…the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53).
After Jesus rose from the dead (if he hadn't then he wasn’t the messiah), he told two disciples who didn’t recognize Him and were upset that his body was missing: “‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself…When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” Luke 24:25-32
The Bible predicted many things that have come true, like the re-gathering of the Jews from around the world, and the coalition of nations that will someday invade Israel from the north: Ezekiel 38:2-6 seems to identify this coalition as Russia (possibly identified with Rosh and Magog), Iran (Persia), Turkey (Meshech and Tubal, or Gomer and Togarmah), Ethiopia (Cush), and Libya (Put).
