How often do we say “I hope”? We hope our family likes the Christmas gifts we bought them. We hope our gingerbread cookies turn out just like Grandma’s. We hope, next year, we’ll find that special someone. We hope we’ll have enough strength to get through the holiday season.
Hope is powerful, but it’s not all the same. The world is searching for hope in the face of despair. As human beings, hope is what we crave, and all creation groans along with us for the coming hope of redemption. Romans 15:13 asserts that true hope is found in God. The world’s version of hope cannot compare to the ultimate source of hope we have in Christ.
When we see a nativity scene, we likely notice little crafted figures shaped like shepherds, wise men, Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus. These scenes depict a moment of hope coming true.
For thousands of years, God’s people waited for redemption. They waited on whispers of a promise not yet realized. They spoke the words of the prophets by the fireside, near their flocks, and under starry skies. They hoped in a God who parted the Red Sea, healed their afflictions, and led them out of bondage.
When hope arrived, it didn’t arrive packaged with ribbons, bows, or a trumpeted announcement. Hope arrived with a baby’s cry. Hope arrived in a manger, meek and small.
In a world that is hopeless, we can be hopeful. He will do what He promised.
On that silent night so long ago, a glimmer of light broke through the darkness. Even in the waiting, the silence, the stillness, God was working.
Darkness knows no fear and has no enemy except for the source of all light itself—Jesus Christ. Amid heaviness, grief, panic attacks, and everyday pressure, God delivers hope.
He knows the burdens we carry. He knows sometimes it’s hard to believe in better days, especially when we stare down the face of darkness. But we don’t fight the darkness on our own.
