Hope is rising (Day 18 of the #encourage marathon)

Welcome to mile-marker 18 of our #encourage marathon! (If you missed yesterday’s post, you can read it here.)

Someone out there needs the Lord. (That would be all of us…)

If you look back at your life, do you ever recall a day in which the sun did not rise? You may not have seen it, or a storm may have been so dark that you barely registered it, but did the sun fail to rise?

I’ve been alive since 1981, and I’ve never failed to see a new day. The sun always rises. It is even more dependable than death and taxes.

Who created that flaming orb? Who ordained the seasons and the earth’s rotation? What does it reveal about Him? The only thing more constant than the sunrise is the Lord who made it. If He is more dependable than the sunrise, can we count on Him to fulfill His promises? Can we trust Him to be there for us when we face trouble? Can we rely on Him to be present in our despair?

Yes. A thousand times, yes.

This passage is one that I love dearly, because it poetically expresses sentiments I have felt in some of the darkest moments of my life:

“Remember my affliction and my wanderings,
the wormwood and the gall!
My soul continually remembers it
and is bowed down within me.”

How often have you felt so overcome by emotion that you had to sit down, kneel down, or fall down? Your heart was so heavy you didn’t want to rise again. In those agonizing moments, we cry out to the Lord, “Where are you? I’m still here! Don’t you see me? Have you forgotten how much I have endured? Do you know how deeply I hurt? I feel like nobody understands the great weight and bitterness I carry. This feels unending. I don’t want to get up again. Don’t forget about me, Lord. I need you. I always have and always will need you…”

In that dark place, we don’t want to run this race of life anymore. We’ve hit our wall and there doesn’t seem to be any way through it.

It in that moment we will either quit, or reach out and touch the hand of the Lord.

If you reach out for the Lord, He will extend His hand and lift you up over that wall to run once more.

Psalms is a lengthy book, but one that every Christian should read regularly. It contains beautiful expressions of praise along with effusive expressions of sorrow. Many Psalms that begin with David pouring out his pain. As the Psalm progressed, he would remember the Lord and the tone of the Psalm would rise to one of hopefulness and confidence.

Jeremiah does the same in our passage today: “My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down… But this I recall to mind, therefore I have hope.” Smack dab in the middle of this book of weeping is a song of joy, the light of hope.

When you go to the Lord in your hurt, don’t forget to list His promises. Your whole perspective will shift.

 

As sure as the sun rises, the Lord will fulfill His promises to us. Every morning He reveals new mercies to us, extending grace for each new mistake. No darkness is so thick that His light cannot penetrate it.

It could be today that you are so overcome with emotion you can barely speak. You don’t have to make a sound for the Lord to hear the loud cry of your heart. You don’t need a cell phone signal to call on Him. He is everywhere and will give you comfort when you cry out.

God is more faithful than the sunrise. He won’t leave you in the dust unless you choose to stay there. Don’t give up! Get up, take His hand, and keep running!

I have written a few posts on this topic in the past, but this one is an old favorite: The Sky Cries Out.

---

Please continue to join me on Facebook, Twitter and here at Elihu’s Corner for this marathon. Share the image or verse reference on your Twitter feed or Facebook page with the hash tag (#encourage). Take time today to copy down this verse for yourself. Send an email or text to someone you know who would benefit from this encouragement.

Make some time to copy down these posts. Some of them are a bit long, but it only takes a few minutes. Ask your kids to do it with you. Don’t just be encouraged, but encourage others in the race!

If you missed the original post listing all 26 passages, click here to download the PDF list.