WHIPSERING HOPE

*“Soft as the voice of an angel, breathing a lesson unheard

Hope with a gentle persuasion, whispers a comforting word.

Wait till the darkness is over, wait till the tempests is done

Hope for the sunshine tomorrow after the darkness is gone.

Whispering Hope oh how welcome Thy voice

Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.”

            Like a tornado rampaging through the land, troubles whirled into Job’s life tearing everything he held dear to smithereens.  His wealth, his livestock, his servants and, even worse, all of his children gone in the blink of an eye.  It was enough to knock even a strong man of faith to the ground.

Then one day in the glorious throne room of God the heavenly court of angels presented themselves before the Lord.  Once again Satan, the Accuser went with them.

“Where have you been?”  God asked Satan.

“I have been patrolling the earth, just watching everything that is going on there.”  Yeah right the Destroyer is only watching what is going on and not instigating a thing.  Innocence and sarcasm drip from his words.

God isn’t buying it, He cuts right to the chase, “Have you noticed my servant Job?  He is the finest man in all the earth.  He is blameless, a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.”  You will remember this is the second time God says such a thing about the man He allowed Satan to plunge into terrible trouble.  “And he has maintained his integrity, even though you urged Me to harm him without cause.”

Without cause! Just because Satan urged Him!  Does that seem quite fair?  Is God caving to peer pressure?  Of course not!  On the contrary, I think Satan is falling into God’s hands.

Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for Skin!  A man will give up everything he has to save his life.”  I don’t think Satan quite understands every person’s heart, do you?  “But if you were to take his health away he would surely curse You to Your face!”  Satan’s sneer is evil and his eyes flash the fire of challenge.

“All right,” God says, “do with him as you please.”

At this Satan must have smirked in glee as he rubbed his hands together. “He he, finally I can do what I wish with one of His precious kids!”

But then God puts a cap on it.  “But spare his life.”

Satan’s smirk fades a bit, but not to worry, there are lots of things to be done to a human body.  IN fact maybe this if better.  He thinks as he leaves the Lord’s presence.

Satan strikes Job with terrible boils all over his body, from head to foot.  Can you imagine?  Have you ever had a boil?  I have not, but Jim, my late husband, had a boil one time and he was in complete misery, from just one.  It was like a big pimple, only much larger and much more painful, lasting many days. I can’t imagine having them all over my body!

Job’s disease was unknown and often associated in the past with a curse for the disobedient and rebellious person.  People had no idea if it was contagious or a terrible plaque that would spread amongst them, so Job removed himself from his neighborhood and sat outside the city on the ash heap, which I understand was where garbage was burned. He scraped his painful and irritating sores with a dirty, broken piece of pottery.

One day his wife stomped her way out to the dump.  Now we must understand that she had just gone through a terrible ordeal also and was grieving the loss of their wealth and children.  Then her husband is afflicted with a possibly incurable and most likely degrading disease. Certainly a situation which can make a person a mite touchy and discouraged.

I can see her marching up to a pitiful looking Job and stand before him with her hands on her hips.

“So,” she demands, “are you STILL trying to maintain your integrity?”  She kicks at a pile of ashes and flaps her hands at the black dust.  “Are you still trusting this God of yours?  I mean, really, how could your God whom you always claim is so loving, do such a thing to you?  Obviously, He doesn’t care about you. Or me either.”  She wipes tears from her eyes, leaving a black streak on her face.  “You might as well curse God and die.”

Job stares at her through red-rimmed, exhausted eyes, “You talk like a foolish woman! I really thought you were wiser than that!” Shaking his head, Job rubs a hand over his face, leaving a black smudge on his cheek.  “I’m sorry, I know you’ve been through a lot and it’s hard, but should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?”

Good question.  Should we accept only good things from God and never anything bad?  Is life with God a bed of roses without any thorns?  If we walk with God do we expect it to be a walk in a beautiful park beside tranquil waters?

I think we usually do.  I think we often equate God’s love and goodness with sunshine and birds singing.  Don’t we?  I know I do. I’m surprised when the storms come. Often my first thought is, what have I done wrong? Why is God punishing me? Or have I strayed from His path so far that He is using a two-by-four to knock some sense into me?

However look at what God tells the Accuser about Job.  “He is the finest man in all the earth.  Look at him, he is blameless!  A man of complete integrity.  He fears God and stays away from evil.”  He didn’t just tell Satan that once but twice.  Yet God gave Satan rein to torment Job extremely.  One trial after another fell upon Job until all of Job’s hope, all of his joy was gone.  Even his wife turned her back and walked away leaving Job on the rubbish heap.  Alone.

Sometimes in our lives things get worse before they get better.  Do they not?  Sometimes burdens pile upon us until it seems an elephant sits on our backs.  Sometimes pain in our bodies or our hearts becomes so great we feel we can not endure another minute.  Sometimes the night is so black we can not see even a glimmer of hope.

Oh but friend hope is there.

Sometimes hope whispers a song in the night.

“Now I am deeply discouraged but I will remember you.” David says, “I hear the tumult of the raging seas as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.  But each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me and through each night I sing His songs.  Praying to God who gives me life.”  Psalm 42:6-8

When troubles pile on top of us, hope glimmers in the darkness.

“Though I am surrounded by troubles, You will protect me from the anger of my enemies.  You reach out Your hand and the power of Your right hand saves me.

The Lord will work out His plans for my life, for Your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever.  Do not abandon me for You made me.” Psalm 138:7-8

When the night is the darkest and the storm is the fiercest, hope soars on the wings of our praise.

“I will praise You, Lord, with all my heart.  I will tell of all the marvelous things You have done.  I will be filled with joy because of You.  I will sing praises to Your name, O MOST HIGH.

            The Lord is a shelter for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble.  Those who know Your name trust in You for You, O Lord, do not abandon those who search for You.”  Psalm 9:1-2, 8-10

When all we hold dear is gone, when life is turned upside down, when all seems hopeless, yet hope whispers in our souls.

“Why am I discouraged?  Why is my heart so sad? 

            I will put my hope in God!  I will praise Him again!  My Savior and my God!”  Psalm 42:11

Where do we put our hope?  Not in wealth which is as shaky as shifting sand.  Not in prestige and power which can topple like a great tower.  Not in possessions which burn away as straw.  Certainly not in our loved ones who belong only to God.

No, Job had to learn, as I did when I lost my husband, that our hope, our only hope is in our God the solid, unshakable Rock.

Christ’s greatest triumph was in humility.

Job was brought low and humiliated before he saw victory.

Humility is not just putting others before ourselves, its putting ourselves UNDER the mighty hand of God.  Its letting God do what He will do in our lives.  Its accepting His will in our lives, no matter how tough the climb or how painful the walk. Its casting all our cares on Him and thanking Him for everything. Because He cares for us.

Could it be in our lowest place, in humility, in trials and grievous trouble, we find victory?  Not necessarily when the storm moves on and the sun bursts from the clouds, but during the storm.

During the rampaging tornado, during the great tempest, we need to stand firm in our faith and trust our God and sing praises, no matter what troubles and storms come.

So, on the blasting winds we soar with wings of hope and in our joy and peace we find we triumph.

“If in the dusk of the twilight dimmed by the region afar

Will not the deepening darkness brighten the glittering star?

Then when the night is upon us, should the heart sink away?

When the dark midnight is over, watch for the breaking of day.

Whispering Hope, oh how welcome Thy voice,

Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.

*Whispering Hope by Alice Hawthorne and Domenico Savino

“When each earthly prop gives under,

And life seems a restless sea,

Are you then a God-kept wonder,

Satisfied and calm and free?”

From Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman