The Message of Hope

Everywhere I turned in the last few days, I got the message of hope.

First there was this video by Jerry Jones.

Then, I read it in LinkedIn.

I got it in my Bible reading plan for today which had this verse:

Zechariah 9:12 “Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope; even now I announce that I will restore twice as much to you.”

Cooped up and restricted, bombarded with bad news we can easily lose hope. But, we have many reasons to hope. For me the biggest is my hope in the Lord Jesus whom I trust. I know that He is still good and near even though it feels like the world is spiraling out of control.

I do not try to underestimate the suffering that many people are going through. I know there are immense struggles, hunger, pain that many are going through during this time. But I also see some good coming out of it:

Here in India thousands have poured into de-addiction centres because their drug supply has dried up. Many smokers and alcoholics have kicked the habit (or are trying to).
There is less pollution. It may not be enough to stem the tide of global warming, but it sure helps. Maybe the EU’s Green Deal will help even more?
There is more compassion for the poor growing in this time. More money is being donated to NGOs and to relief funds. Others are willingly giving part of their salaries to help those in need.
There is unprecedented collaboration between nations in developing a vaccine for Covid-19.
More people are looking for spiritual truth.

As unemployment figures rise, migrant workers walk thousands of kilometres to their home villages to prevent starvation and a global depression is on its way, where can we find hope?

I find mine in the Holy Bible.

Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Without hope everything becomes meaningless. Hope transforms dark places into light. We need to hold onto the promises of God.

Here are some of my pictures and family paintings that I used for Zoom backgrounds during the past week.