Finding Hope in Moments of Despair | Reset Day 2

Ptr. Michael Cariño delivered this message on the second night of the church’s RESET: Mid-Year Prayer and Fasting online event on July 9, 2020. 

What should we do? 

What do you do when you don’t like the circumstances of your life and it seems that you have lost hope and you are filled with despair? 

The doctor calls with bad news, “I’m sorry. It’s cancer and there’s nothing we can do.” Your wife tells you she wants to separate after 25 years of marriage. Your boss calls you in and says, “We’ve decided to let you go.” Your oldest daughter runs away, and now she’s living with her boyfriend. Your job search has led to a dead-end, and now you are out of money and out of leads. You prayed for your oldest son to come back to the Lord, but instead, he seems to have hardened his heart. Your father has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. When the stock market crashed, you lost 60% of your family’s savings. When the pandemic started, your business suffered a terrible loss.

And you cry out, “Lord, what’s happening?” How can we find hope in moments of despair?

The Context of Jeremiah

Let us reflect by looking back to the time when the people of God, the nation of Judah, went through a dark, desperate moment in their nation’s history. It was a time of despair, as we see in the book of Jeremiah.

The year is 597 BC and Nebuchadnezzar has led the army of Babylon to the gates of Jerusalem. There the Babylonians defeated the army of Judah, capturing the city and capturing their king.

Some 10,000 people were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar in this deportation. Nebuchadnezzar destroyed everything. He tore down the city walls, burned the temple down, and left the city in ruins. He took whatever he wanted and destroyed everything else.

The Babylonians were not what you would consider nice people. They were the most powerful nation on earth, and their army was ruthless. The Babylonian empire was one of the most demonic, brutal, corrupt, and evil empires in history.

Amid this backdrop, there is also one other part of this story that we need to consider. Why did it happen? We say it simply, it happened because the people of Judah turned away from the Lord. How? They ignored his Word. They forgot his promises. They worshiped idols. They willingly followed after evil. They took advantage of the poor and the weak. They allowed violence. They did not listen to God.

For generations, the people had turned away from the Lord. Finally, the time came when God said, “Enough!” and God allowed them to go through a season of discipline.

By 597 B.C., a large group of Jews was in exile in Babylon. To the Jews, Babylon was the center of evil. The people of Judah hated everything the Babylonians stood for. They hated them for their cruelty. They hated them for their violence. They hated them for their idolatry. They hated them for attacking the city of God. They hated them for destroying the temple, God’s dwelling place on earth. And they hated being so far from home.

The captivity of the Jews also raised many theological questions. 

Where was God in all of this? How could he let this evil happen? How could he have allowed the temple in Jerusalem–his earthly dwelling place–to be destroyed? And most of all, how could God use the Babylonians to punish the Jews when the Babylonians were much worse than the Jews.

What do you do when God seems to allow you to go through despair?

The People Reject Jeremiah’s Message of Doom and Hope

Consider this series of events:

• Israel turns their backs on God.
• God calls Israel to come back to Him.
• Israel breaks her covenant with God.
• God warns Israel about the consequences of their rebellion.
• Israel rejects God’s warnings and believes the lies and false prophets.
• God brings judgment to Israel through Babylon’s oppression.
• Israel suffers in exile, and their nation is destroyed.
• God promises to restore them after 70 years and begins a new covenant.

Jeremiah was a very unpopular prophet. The people hated him because of his message. That is why Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. They hated him to the point that they believed the false prophet Hananiah more than God’s prophet Jeremiah. 

• The Message of Hananiah: God wants to break the yoke of Babylon’s tyrannical oppression. In two years, all the exiles will leave Babylon and go back to their homeland. (Jeremiah 28:1-4)

• The Message of Jeremiah: God wants His people to build houses and settle in Babylon, to seek the peace and prosperity of the city. To pray for Babylon and stay there for 70 years until God’s plan is accomplished. (Jeremiah 29:3-10)

When the people of Judah rejected Jeremiah’s prophecy, God vindicated him and protected him from the people’s hatred. God judged Hananiah and rejected the false prophecy.

What can we learn from Israel’s experience?

What truths can we bring to our lives through the message of the Book of Jeremiah? How can we find hope in moments of despair?

First, we base our hope on God’s supreme authority over all rulers, governments, and nations. We must trust His wisdom.

“LORD, there is no one like you! For you are great, and your name is full of power. Who would not fear you, O King of nations? That title belongs to you alone! Among all the wise people of the earth and in all the kingdoms of the world, there is no one like you… the LORD is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King!” (Jeremiah 10:6-7,10)

The truth about governments, empires, and rulers is that they all come and go; they all rise and fall. Only God remains as the sovereign authority over our nation, over our world. God is in charge.

For this reason, our highest loyalty and allegiance belong to God, not to political entities or governing authorities. God is the true King over all other kings.

We are citizens of a higher kingdom. No matter who rules our world — be it tyrants, corrupt leaders, or empires like Babylon, Egypt, Assyria, or Rome — as God’s people we can have confidence and hope (instead of panic, fear, anger, or despair) that God’s rulership is above and beyond all the kingdoms of this world.

Second, we base our hope on God’s sovereign work in our lives and our world. We must trust His plans.

“This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.  For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.” (Jeremiah 29:10-14) 

We have hope amidst our despair because we believe that God’s ways are higher than our ways. His thoughts are greater than our thoughts. As God’s people, we can have confidence and hope that God knows what He is doing.

Whether we go through suffering, injustice, pain, or troubles, we can trust that God will cause all things to work together for the good of those who love Him. We have a living hope, that what the enemy meant for evil, God can turn for good.

We can be calm and at peace amidst the turmoil around us because we believe God has reasons for allowing certain calamities to happen, for allowing certain governments to rule, for allowing certain diseases to spread, and for allowing certain crimes or injustice to happen. We can trust that, no matter what we go through, God has a better plan. God is in charge.

Third, our hope is based on God’s sufficient grace to restore us from our fallenness. We must trust His mercy.

“But this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says:  I will certainly bring my people back again from all the countries where I will scatter them in my fury. I will bring them back to this very city and let them live in peace and safety. They will be my people, and I will be their God.  And I will give them one heart and one purpose: to worship me forever, for their own good and for the good of all their descendants. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good for them. I will put a desire in their hearts to worship me, and they will never leave me. I will find joy doing good for them and will faithfully and wholeheartedly replant them in this land.” (Jeremiah 32: 36-41)

God restored the people of Judah despite their sinfulness and rebellion. This means that even when we fail and have lost our way, God will never abandon us. He will never stop loving us no matter how far we run.

He may discipline us and allow us to go through a period of suffering to teach us or transform us. But in the end, God will restore us by His grace and mercy and love. He is the God of many second chances. Our hope is anchored on God’s unending love, unfailing mercy, and constant faithfulness. 

As we pray for our nation, let us remember these truths that we learned from Jeremiah.

• We base our hope on God’s supreme authority over all rulers, governments, and nations. We must trust His wisdom.
• We base our hope on God’s sovereign work in our lives and our world. We must trust His plans.
• We base our hope on God’s sufficient grace to restore us from our fallenness. We must trust His mercy.

Let me end with a quote from the song Blessings by Laura Story. “We know that pain reminds this heart that this is not our home. What if my greatest disappointments, or the aching of this life, is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy?”