Week 1 - Day 1 (HOPE - against depression)

When reading the Old Testament, you may feel like you’re on a roller coaster of ups and downs. I mean, creation, flood, the exodus, good kings (not many), bad kings (there were lots), war, exile, oppression. This all may seem like the main idea of the Old Testament unless you take your focus off the people and focus on God. How does he respond? 

The books of the Old Testament can either be about human failure or about God’s perfect timing and unconditional covenant with his people. 

This makes it easy for us to shift our focus because we get to see the whole story: from Genesis to Malachi, we have a front-row seat to God’s promises through it all.

But as I sit in this coffee shop enjoying my 21st-century life, I realize that there were people who I am sure had trouble shifting their focus: the Hebrew people. 

I once had a friend tell me she believed that the most painful human emotion was disappointment. I think about that often- how there is risk in hope because of the fear of disappointment. Like applying for a dream job that may seem “out there,” asking someone on a date that seems out of your league, or pursuing a new hobby that you may be absolutely horrible at. There is risk in hope. 

“What if I don’t get the job?” 

“What if they say no?” 

“What if I can’t do it?”  

“What if God doesn’t actually hear me?” 

These are all questions expressing the fear of disappointment. 

And when we avoid hope, that is a breeding ground for apathy. When I think about the 400 years of silence, I think about how the people of Israel were probably afraid to hope. Some of them had turned apathetic, so much so that any mention of the Messiah would have caused someone to say, “yeah, right, there’s no way,” or “he’s forgotten about us,” and yet, stood God’s unconditional covenant. 

And then, a thrill of hope. A weary world crying out, rejoicing in the form of running shepherds and a crying baby. Like a dimly lit candle, a baby was born in a stable, and into the world, hope was born. 

For 30 years, Mary, Joseph, and those shepherds had hope rooted in their knowledge of the fulfilled prophecies. 

And as for us, our hope is rooted in our knowledge of what is to come. That the promises of Jesus will be fulfilled. That there will be no more crying, no more pain, and we will be united with Jesus forever.