Finding Hope amidst Despair

Today we continue a look at the detours of life – the Plan Bs.  Truth is this is the reality we most often live – Oh we have plans, but more often than naught we are forced to live our lives with the Plan Bs of life.  So, what can faith do to help us in the detours? 

Let me introduce you to a couple of people who most certainly lost hope and most certainly were frustrated while they waited on God to respond (John 11).

We begin in the town of Bethany where Lazarus lives with his sisters, Mary and Martha.  These three are dear friends of Jesus.  Their home just outside of Jerusalem is in fact a home away from home for Jesus and his disciples. As our story begins, Jesus is far from Bethany. He has traveled across the Jordan River to get away from the people who are seeking to have him arrested.  While Jesus is ministering in that area, he gets Bad News:

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. (This Mary, whose

brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.)  So the

sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”  When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days,  John 11:1-6 NIV

I have to admit, if I were Mary or Martha (or for that matter Lazarus) that would be hard to take.  If I were one of them, I would be the first to step up and say, “I don’t like this plan!”  When we are in the midst of that pain and anguish of our Plan Bs, let’s be honest, we don’t want to hear from God that it is all part of the plan. I suspect that is how many of us honestly feel.  We don’t like God’s plans – not if they involve suffering or pain – not if they involve waiting on God or wondering if God is going to act – not if it involves Plan B.  We love the idea of following Jesus until it disrupts our plans and dreams.

I am pretty sure Mary and Martha (and Lazarus) were not too fond of God’s plan while they waiting for Jesus to show up.  Can you imagine what it must have been like from them?  They sent a messenger to Jesus – the great healer and friend – and now they are waiting for Jesus to show up and make everything as it was.  Lazarus lies in his bed, burning with fever, growing sicker and sicker.  Mary sits by his side, crying, holding his hand.  Martha hurries about and constantly looks out the window and hopes …. Jesus will be here in minute … Should we send another messenger … He is coming …. Any time now … BUT, Jesus doesn’t come.

Perhaps you have been there.  God, I need your help.  I promise, I’ll read my Bible more, I won’t drift away again, I’ll become a missionary … whatever you want … Just help me.  And then you waited, but nothing.  Nothing changes.  Nothing gets better.  If God is at work, you certainly can’t tell.  You pray the same prayer and you still are left waiting .. no answer ... hope is turning to despair.

Waiting is hard. While we wait, there isn’t much we can, but wait.  Our culture makes it even worse.  We live in the day of fast and instant. We believe faster is always better.  We are dependent on getting what we want when we want it.  Unfortunately, we have allowed the culture of instant gratification to invade our theology of God.

Back to our story where Mary and Martha are waiting:  and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”
"But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?” Jesus 
answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light.  It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.” After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”  His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.”  Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural 
sleep. So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”  John 11:7-15 NIV

According to the Bible, Jesus said all this has happened “so that you may believe.” I'm sure that is real comforting to Mary, Martha, and the now dead Lazarus. We have to learn to have a new perspective on our detours in life. We have to stop looking at our shattered dreams and our unmet expectations as something God is doing to you.  God is not doing something to you, BUT God might be doing something through you.  God might be doing something in you.  That’s exactly what God was doing with Mary and Martha (and Lazarus) and the disciples. 

On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.  Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  John 11:17-21 NIV

We have all muttered those words of Martha, “God, if you had been there, this wouldn’t have happened? God, where were you?

I know you could have saved my marriage.

I know you could have gotten me that promotion or that job.

I know you could have healed my friend.

I know you could have done something ... anything! ... Where were you God?

In our story, Martha doesn’t doubt God’s power she just questions God’s timing.  Martha is upset because Jesus didn’t show up when she wanted Him to show up.  And that is worth noting because I believe that is often our issue with God.

The question for us isn’t can we trust God? We trust God.  Of Course we do.

The real question is can you wait on God?  Will you wait? Will you continue to hope in God even when the timing is off?

Trusting in God does not mean God shows up exactly the way you thought He was going to show up.  Trusting God doesn’t mean God’s timing is going to be your timing.  Hope doesn’t come just believing in God, but hope comes from also accepting and trusting God’s timing. And that is hard to do.  We want God to show up when we want in the way we want. We want God’s power.  We want God’s comfort.  But too often we just don’t want anything to do with God’s idea of timing!  

Back to our story and you know the ending: Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.”  John 11:43-45 NIV

Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead, but in the process Jesus fulfills God’s purpose – to help people believe and to bring God glory.  This story is reminds us we should never give up hoping.  God is the God of the hopeless. When life isn’t turning out the way you had hoped, when you find yourself waiting … when you feel alone and abandoned … God wants you to find hope in HIM.

When our son Riley was born, it didn’t go as planned.  Plan A was not a 8-week pre-mature, life-saving C-Section.  Plan A was not the news that your child has Down Syndrome.  But in the intervening moments, hours, days, and years our Plan B had been amazing.  I don’t even remember how or when, but a poem was given to us and the words helped us find hope. 

I can tell you that It’s not easy in the midst of the detours that life presents – all the plan Bs – to find hope.  

Sometimes, we need to be reminded of the stories that give us hope like the story of Easter's empty tomb, or Mary, Martha and Lazarus and their waiting on Jesus' help. Sometimes we just need to discover words of hope in a poem or essay.  

Sometimes we can find hope in the pages of God’s promises: 

I find rest in God; only he gives me hope.
He is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defender; I will not be defeated.

Psalm 62:5-6 New Century Version 

I love this picture created by the Psalmist:  Frustrated, angry, stressed, confused, exhausted, tired of waiting … the invitation is given: just come collapse in the loving arms of God and discover rest, comfort, and protection.

Be still and find Rest in God. And while you rest in God - Wait.

And in your waiting ... discover hope once again.