DARKNESS transcends many
of the moments in a winter of discontent—the loss of a dear one, a period of
depression, a fear-racked anxiousness, and the like. In such seasons we daren’t
hope for something that seems ridiculous. That’s our personal counsel and the
counsel of those a little closer to us than is right—well-meaning friends and
family without the right thing to say. Our hope is torn and bereft of firm
foundation. We are swimming listlessly on a nowhere tide, backwashed
continually and forever out at sea.
What we need right now is no
ordinary hope; a hope borrowed, but one most certainly true by its stature—a foundation
of God.
We need a hope that will
come true. Eventually this hope does. It’s the Lord’s
justice unveiled to all who are somehow transgressed. We may hope in this sense
for expectation without fear of disappointment. This thought will not betray us
and we can found ourselves in it.
The Importance of Vision
A vision of hope is
important for those who cannot see past the present murkiness of the extant
evil day.
Having a vision of what
God is doing in this time of the inner transgressions done to us by life or a
soul’s loneliness is about sowing or investing in an imaginative venture
procured of the Lord.
We indwell such a venture
in a moment of transient strength; we are led there by the Spirit who helps us.
Oh, to know that we are being aided by God! What a thought that is.
A vision is not anything
out of this world. The vision we want is for the realisation of the hope we
hope for. We need to know what it is that God is drawing us to. We seek the
Spirit for a vision of what it looks like and we hold onto it for dear life.
Going on Past the Present Darkness
We won’t always be able to
access the vision we have conjured for ourselves, but even a few hours a day or
a day a week is enough. We really only need a taste of a good vision’s hope and
we are convinced of the need and reason to go on.
A day at a time we get closer
to the realisation of the hope, though at times we really doubt we are anywhere
near it at all. But hope is something quite invisible; if it were visible it
wouldn’t require hope to believe.
Despite its invisibility
we still contend in hope.
***
Present darkness is a
nemesis to our hope. The key, then, is to procure some vision of a true hope we
can hold on to. God will lead us to such a vision if we seek him. Just a
glimpse will do and then what we hold on to will fuel our faith sufficiently
that we can go on.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
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