Setting Our Hope

We worship, love, and serve the most mighty and gracious God. Yet, this world is so complicated and very tragic. I have been hit with both of these truths at the same time these past five weeks.

Aliens, refugees, and strangers in this world are a very complex problem, yet the Lord has such a heart for these people. I am going through a very short, yet powerful Bible study called “Entertaining Angels” by Exodus World Service. (It is merely six dollars per copy, if anyone is interested.) The study has led me to numerous passages where the Bible talks about refugees…ALL OVER!!! :) These refugees are key figures in the Bible: Adam and Eve, Abraham, Sarah, Jacob, David, Joseph, Mary, Jesus, and the early Christians—to name just a few of the countless refugees in His Word. We, in fact as Christians, are aliens and strangers on this earth too, for our home is in Heaven! God divinely used refugees to spread His good news. His plans are so glorious, marvelous, and messy with our interaction, yet stunningly beautiful.

In spite of the tragic backgrounds, the exhausting, yet remarkable journeys to a safe country, the waiting process to hear a negative or a positive on asylum, and the challenging transition from a familiar culture into a drastically new one, our Lord is a God of Hope. I am encouraged by how He is working and how He has blessed me to be able to see His work so clearly. From my Iraqi Mama and Papa who desire to learn German as quickly as possible to become doctors here in this new land, to my beautiful Ethiopian sister who is three months pregnant and desires to reunite with her husband in Norway, to a lovely thirteen year old Chechen young lady who dances beautifully, to my two friends from Africa who are raising their precious baby sons, and to a confident, lovely little Iranian ten year old who is working to love and serve her family well when her mother and papa are working with all their might…the Lord has given me faces to the nations He is bringing to himself. Through their stories, their presence, their gift of friendship, and their love, He has led me closer to the depths of pain in this world in order to lead me more to the depths of His love for His people.

Finally, this passage from 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 expresses such rich praise that arises through suffering,

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, ⁴ who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. ⁵ For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. ⁶ If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. ⁷ And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. ⁸ We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰ He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, ¹¹ as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.”

Thank you for the prayers of each person reading this. The Lord moves and He reigns, even while the earth weeps, moans, and groans. He will one day declare perfect justice over the land and the seas as He draws all of His worshipers near. May we fix our gaze on the Author and Perfector of our faith, run with endurance in this tragic world, and set our hope on the things above—serving and adoring our mighty and gracious Father each day He graciously gives us!