Have you ever felt like the odds are completely against you and no relief seems to be in sight? We all hit “rock bottom” from time-to-time, not sure what to do next. Life seems rather meaningless if all we do is simply exist. To fill the emptiness, many try jumping from one experience to another. When lonely, we try to fill the loneliness with any distraction available. When overly-troubled, we may try to fill our lives with “noise” in an attempt to help us feel numb, but the inevitable truth is that reality is still waiting for us. It’s good to know that there is more to life than just existing –there is hope.
When the Christian commits his or her life to Christ, God establishes hope in the heart of the hopeless. Emptiness is filled with a supernatural outpouring of life –real life. This is a hope that cannot be shattered; despite life’s twists and turns, disappointments or betrayals. God never changes. He is the only Friend who can fully commit Himself to a relationship and that will never disappoint us. Nothing can separate us from His love –nothing. That is a reality. We cannot falter, we cannot fall beyond recovery if we cling to the love that God freely gives. God’s love never fails. It always overcomes. But in the heat of difficulty, we can also return to pure self-reliance. Pure self-reliance is exactly what leaves us feeling empty. Hang on to the love that is powerful enough to defeat death itself. Hang on to the love that is never selfish or boastful. Hang on to the love of all loves that is not of this world. Hang on.
I’m reminded of a time in Ukraine when I was taking a train ride with a Ukrainian friend, traveling six hours to reach his village. About half an hour before we reached the stop near his village, he told me that the train doesn’t actually stop and that we would have to jump while the train was still moving. I had already been in Ukraine long enough to grant that this might actually be true. When we approached our stop, he asked me, “Are you ready?” I remember thinking to myself, “What have I gotten myself into???!!!” Then it happened… the train stopped. My friend began laughing his head off hysterically and I stood there, feeling like a fool –but rather relieved that I didn’t have to jump from a moving train after all. How many times have we thought we needed to “jump from a moving train” only to find that God was planning to stop the train all along? Sometimes we get so wrapped up in what we think may happen that we miss out on life in the process. Don’t worry about tomorrow –there’s enough to busy us today. Take it easy and trust God to get you through –and please don’t jump from any moving trains -unless you have no other choice. But with God, there’s always something more than what is easily seen.