A Ray of Hope

Lam 3:21-26: Yet there is one ray of hope: his compassion never ends. It is only the Lord's mercies that have kept us from complete destruction.  Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day.  My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him.  The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him.  It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. (TLB) 

  

Have you ever felt your life was not reaching its potential?  You know, the feeling that you are running behind the schedule of destiny?  Or perhaps your life is missing your goals and dreams?  You start the morning without a “ray of hope” for the day or the week, or perhaps even for the rest of your life.  I believe most of us experience these emotions and struggles from time to time.  Just as hope is prophetic to our future, so is hopelessness.  Hopelessness is the prophetic voice of the hidden part of the soul.  What is the hidden part of the soul, you might ask?  It is the place where we hide our fears.  We keep this place so hidden we are not even aware that it exists.  We hide all kinds of thoughts here; mainly the thoughts we tell no one.  The thoughts we think are not acceptable to those around us.  The thoughts we believe, if told, would surely come to pass and devour us.  This hidden room in our soul has a door that is always closed, and is never opened. 

  

Come away with me for a moment.  Let’s imagine a room in your house.  This room is hard to see and is almost hidden at the top of the attic stairs.  This room has always seemed a little scary, so you have refused to open the door to take a look.  Days pass and you don’t open the door.  Suddenly, you hear all kinds of creatures moving in the darkness of this hidden room.  A week passes before you venture by this room again.  The door is still closed.  You hear more sounds and now you can even hear a faint voice in the background.  Your imagination begins to give form to this voice; this creature.  It is very scary as you do not know what this creature looks like.  You think you can see this creature in your mind.  It appears to have ten heads and ten eyes.  The scales on its body shine as the reflection of the moon pours into the night window.  Its tail is dangerous and appears to be pointed like a spear.  Surely it could pierce your heart and bring sudden death.  This hidden creature, if exposed, would surely be the end of you. 

  

Now, isn’t it amazing how we can take the imagination that God has given to each of us to speak prophetically into a wonderful future; and then use it to destroy our God given destiny?  This hidden room becomes a breeding ground of the unseen.  When we store our fears and possible failures in this hidden room, they grow into false realities.  We then start to live in these false realities; and even though they are false, they take on the appearance of being true.  They might as well be true, because we live in them just the same.  These false realities produce a painful hopelessness that destroys our very existence. 

  

So how can we escape this place of hopelessness?  The first thing we must do is open the door of the hidden room in our souls.  We must be truthful and honest with ourselves and with God.  There are no creatures in this land of the hidden soul; only our fears.  Fear is the hidden creature.  It is a false reality, and it is not even real.  Let’s open the door to this hidden room and let the light shine in and expose all of the false realities that have been living there.  Let’s see more of what God has to say about hope. 

  

First of all, Lam 3:21says: Yet there is one ray of hope.  This is all it takes to make it today; just one ray of hope, a ray of hope from heaven.  There is one ray for each day, and we must live one day at a time.  Tomorrow is not here so we must trust the Lord for today.  Do not look for a ray of hope for tomorrow, because tomorrow has not yet come.  Tomorrow’s ray of hope will be asked for tomorrow.  You can trust that God will give you this ray of hope for tomorrow because his compassion never ends.  His love for us is unbelievable and endless.  Your fears are only trying to destroy you while it is the Lord's mercies that have kept us from complete destruction.  Great is his faithfulness; his loving-kindness begins afresh each day.  Our ray of hope comes fresh each day as we call upon the Lord.  Why—because of his loving-kindness.  This part of the inheritance we have in Christ must be claimed. 

  

Let’s take another look at the scriptures.  Lam 3:24: My soul claims the Lord as my inheritance; therefore I will hope in him.  The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him.  It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.   

Let’s make a choice this day to wait upon the Lord and continually seek Him.  Our hope is not in the hidden room of our souls, but in the Lord who willingly sends us a “ray of hope” for each day. Fear will be offered to us in great abundance during the next 12 months.  But we must not allow our souls to agree with this fear and hopelessness. 

 

This is the season to experience freedom from fear, hopelessness, and destruction. The Lord is the One who holds this day and He is the One who issues each of us a “ray of hope”. Let’s embrace His voice and receive His Word as His “ray of hope” warms our hearts with truth and freedom. 

I am hopeful, Ron Ross