Stories Of Hope

I was reading in my bible time the other day about the woman at the well in john 4.  So this woman goes to

the well to get water and meets jesus.  Sounds ordinary.  Sounds like a normal person doing normal things right.  Except this is so not normal.  Its noon.  The middle of the day.  Its hot.  Getting water from the well was a womens job and was done about 6am in the morning, when it was cool.  It was also a real social event, you went to the well, got all the goss and socialized.  So we can see here that something is wrong.  This woman at the well at noon is avoiding everyone and doing this job at the totally wrong time.  Through talking to jesus we soon find out its because her life is falling apart. She has made one mistake after another.   Jesus tells her to go get her husband and she says I don’t have a husband.  Jesus is then super awkard and points out that she has had 5 husbands and the man she is living with right now shes not married too.   Big no no in jewish culture.  Now 5 husbands is a lot.  Maybe they all died.  That would be pretty awlful.  And really bad luck.  And lots of grief.  And lots of people calling you a black widow, don’t marry that lady you’ll die!  Or maybe she’s had 5 divorces.  In those days that would have been a big cancelled stamp on your reputation and   you would have been the scandal of the town.  Whatever the reasons, life is not working for this woman.  Life is falling apart.  She has no hope.  Until she meets jesus.  After one conversation with jesus she runs into town, runs to talk to the people who have ostrasised and rejected her, and tells them come and see the man who knew everything I ever did.  Could he be the saviour? 

Come and see the one who has changed my life

Come and see the one who rescues us

Come and see the one who forgives us

Come and see the one who even though my life is falling apart and ive made mistakes and I don’t have it all together accepted me and welcomed me and gave me hope.

God stepped in and totally changed everything – in one moment her whole life was turned around.  You never know that moment when boom.  That moment when Jesus met the women at the well was a divine set up by God.  Did you notice that Jesus knew about her life, that Jesus saw what she had been going through and had compassion for her?   Jesus sees us and knows us and is with us.  We can have real hope because of this reality.

Then there is Joseph.  You can read about Joseph at the end of genesis.  Joseph is one of 12 brothers.  I mean that just sounds trouble enough.  Josephs problem was that his brothers did not like him.  So much so that they plotted to kill him but then thought that’s a bad idea so just chucked him in a well and sold him into slavery and faked his death for the rest of the whanau.  Drama.   So joseph is dragged off to Egypt and sold into slavery.   At this point you’re thinking this is as bad as it can get.  But wait there is more.  Joseph’s masters wife sexually harresses him and makes a play and then falsely accuses him of rape and he is thrown into jail.   Josephs life was falling apart.  Things seemed pretty hopeless.  There seemed like no way out, his life was over.

But Joseph held onto hope and trusted God right in the middle of everything.  Time and time again in the bible it says that the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in everything he did.  As a slave he became a leader in his masters house.  In the prison he also became a leader and given responsibility  Long story short throughout the whole experience, the pit, potiphers house, the prison was all part of God’s purpose and plan for promotion to prime minister of Egypt – and in that role because of a massive famine in the whole region joseph was the key figure in rescuing his jewish people from extinction and death. Literally.   God was working behind the scenes in Joseph’s life to prepare him for that moment and position.   We can have hope that God is at work in our lives behind the scenes, that nothing is wasted and that he turns all things around for good.  What you’re going through now is not the end, its not the forever.   We’ve got to be like joseph and keep on holding onto hope and trusting God.

Next there is Elijah.  Elijah is a rock star prophet who saw God do some of the most amazing things recorded in the bible.  Like top 10 wow God moments.   Fire falling from heaven.   God turning up in dramatic ways.  The whole nation of Israel turning back to God.  God told him to pray for no rain and it didn’t rain for 3 years.  Then God told him to pray for rain and it rained and the drought was broken.   Incredible amazing stuff.

But in 1 Kings 19 we find Elijah sitting under a bush in the middle of the desert praying to die.  He had given up.  He was freaked out because the evil queen was cussing him out and sending him death threats.  He lost hope.  He was tried and depressed and suicidal.  

I just want to say here that any anxiety or depression or mental health stuff you might walk through makes God love us less.  It is not a sin to be anxious or depressed or to have suicidal thoughts.  It can be a byproduct of stuff going on in our world, or chemical things going on in our body and triggered by stress.  There is help and hope.  There is practical help and hope through talking to a counsellor, through medication, through doing things that can help our body regulate.  There is also help and hope with God.  Do you know what God’s first strategy with Elijah was?  He sent an angel who gave him something to eat and drink and told him to take a nap.  Literally.  Gave him some good food, got him hydrated and let him sleep.    Do you know we don’t have to have it all together for God to love us and accept us. 

Hebrews 4:16 says Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

At our time of need, our lowest point, where we’ve given up, where we cant keep going, where we mess up, where we don’t like ourselves, where we cant figure out what to do next – that is the best time to come to God.

Time and time again it says in psalms that God loves and is near to the brokenhearted.  That all his ways are kind.  That He reaches out to those who are drowning and sets them on a firm foundation. 

God gave Elijah new hope again.  After his nap and more food God reminded Elijah that he had called him and chosen him and still had plans and purposes for Elijah to do.  God gave Elijah a fresh sense of direction.

The woman at the well.  Joseph.  Elijah.  They are just 3 stories out of the hundreds of real people with real lives and real problems who got real answers and real hope from our real God that are written in the bible.   When we read the bible we can see who God is and how He operates and then apply it to our lives. 

 One of the most famous verses in the bible is Jeremiah 29:11

For I know the plans for you says God, plans to bless you and prosper you and give you a future and a hope.

Before you were even born God had preplanned and designed you.  He has all the blueprints for your life.   He knows the plans.  These plans are to give you a future and a hope.   Fear is not your future, hope is.  Failure is not your future, hope is.  Loneliness is not your future, hope is. 

But one thing we often miss with that super famous verse, we get all excited about the plans and the future and the hope and the bless us – is that that was written to the jewish people when they were in exile.  Their country Israel had been invaded and overtaken, they lost the war and they were taken as prisnors of war and refugues to another whole country to start over again.   In the middle of them not having it together, in the middle of the worst thing that they could face, in the middle of extreme hardship on every level, on the middle of feeling hopeless, in the middle of wanting to give up God said I know the plans I have for you, plans to bless you and give you a future and a hope.

In the middle of our right now God says the same thing. 

I know you, I have plans for you, you are made on purpose with a purpose, don’t give up hope, I am your source of hope, hold on change is coming.

Sometimes In the middle of our mess we need to eat something good, get hydrated and take a nap.  Sometimes we need to just keep going and doing our best and keep trusting.  Sometimes we need to step out of our comfort zone and do what God says.  Sometimes we need a fresh encounter with God that changes the way we see life. 

Hope is found when we get intentional about being with Jesus.  When did the woman at the well find hope? When she talked with Jesus.  When she heard his words.  When she believed what he said. 

The Lord was with Joseph and Joseph was with God – he was intentional about feeding his faith no matter what was happening around him.  No matter where he was God was with him and he was with God. 

Naaman had to humble himself and do what God said, dip in the river 7 times and then he was healed.  He didn’t give up, he kept obeying.

We might get new hope by switching up our playlist so we’re intentionally hearing God’s truth through worship music.  We might get new hope by reading our bibles, like that woman at the well, hearing what God has to say.  We might need to grab ahold of one of God’s promises and write it down and memorize it and stick it up on our mirror so that every day when we get up and say I have no hope we can say god has a plan and a purpose and a future and a hope for me.  God’s word crushes every lie we tell about ourselves and our future.   It does something on the inside and rewires our brain and our outlook.   Hearing stories of hope reminds us that hope is possible.

Right now I want you to close your eyes and think – where do you get hope from right now?  Are you getting it from God?   

Think where do I need hope right now?  Is it hope that my anxiety will go away?  Is it hope that I’ll pass my exams?  Is it hope that God really loves me?  Is it hope that things will change with my friends?  Is it hope that I’ll get better? 

In The Story

i am the woman at the well

i am the paralytic

i am thomas

i am peter

i am the woman with an issue of blood

i am the woman caught in her sin

i am blind man told to wash in the pool of silom

i am Barabbas

i am mary martha and lazarus

i am the lost sheep, the prodigal son

 

i am thirsty and rejected

i am crippled by fear

i am the one who doubts

and then denies

i am the one unclean

i am the one looking for love in all the wrong places

the one who doesnt know the way

i am the one guilty

the one dead on the inside

lost, alone

 

He is my Saviour

who filled my heart with grace and love

who set me free

who gave me faith

who gave me purpose

made whole

who invited me with grace

and gave me eyes to see

who made me acceptable and innocent, free

alive

found, loved

 

inspired by I AM by chistopher glenn