Hope is a good thing

Sometimes as we walk this path of faith, we come across hardships and difficulties. Sometimes we meet failures in our lives. Sometimes we wish to go back to the past and live life newly. Sometimes we wish to go to the future and avoid the sufferings and ordeals of the present.

However, we can do neither. We are God's creation, trapped in time. We can neither go back to the past nor go to the future. We have to live in the present time. As we serve God in different ministries, we look forward to bearing fruits. Like the farmer who looks forward to reaping his harvest, we want to see results. Sometimes, bearing the fruits of our labour may take a lot of time. Sometimes we may even not bear fruits. Often we become very tense and worried when we are not certain about the future. How do we deal with such situations?

Remember Joshua? He and his army marched round the Jericho city walls for six days. Though they were not certain of the future, yet they obeyed God and put their faith and trust in Him. Probably, those, who had watched Joshua and his army march round the city walls, must have thought that they had lost their minds – after all, how can the Jericho walls crumble down because they were simply marching round it? What they did looked utterly crazy and meaningless.

Likewise, as we serve God in our ministries, sometimes we keep on doing the same thing over and over again. To the people of the world, what we are doing looks meaningless. However, remember, there is a time for everything. And, everything is under God's Providence. Everything belongs to God. We cannot do anything about result. The result belongs to God. But there is something we can do and we must do. Before we reap the harvest, we must sow. Before we look forward to results, we must make efforts that can bring about the desired results.

However, sometimes, even after putting in our best efforts, we do not achieve the desired results. And, then we lose hope...easily and quickly. And, we also lose faith in God. But we should not lose hope or faith. We must never forget that everything is under God's Providence and according to His divine Will. Before we blame God for our failures, we should ask ourselves first, "Did we really try our best? Did we really want it that hard?"

As children of God, we should be awakened, we should realize the preciousness of time. We should not regret or say "I could have done better." We should do our very best in the given time.

The final battle belongs to God. We are all fighting a spiritual battle. Though we are insufficient, though we are weak, though what we are doing may look insignificant and small, yet, like the mustard seed, our work slowly and surely will bear fruit. We should never lose patience. Putting our faith in God, we should persevere and go on.

Remember, hope is a good thing. It keeps us alive. It drives us forward. Especially hope in the Living God. And faith in His promises. For it helps us endure and overcome all hardship and keeps us straight in the narrow path. For every good promise of His come true.

Amen.