Bible:
For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead. He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many. II Corinthians 1:8-11 ESV
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God. Psalm 42:1-3, 8-11 ESV
Reflection:
A young man named Paul was fighting for the German army during World War I, and the deaths and hopelessness he experienced brought him to the point of despair. When he had volunteered for the army, he had thought it would be glorious, but as he experienced the reality of war he learned about terror and cruelty and brutality, and he no longer believed in the glory of war. He felt as if it would never end, and even if it did, he wouldn’t know what to do with himself during a time of peace. Paul watched his friends die in combat one by one and felt that he was becoming an animal, only interested in his own survival. He came to the point where he no longer wanted to live, and in fact he was finally killed in battle.
Paul’s story is a depressing one, and it’s only a story, but it’s also very similar to what many people have experienced who have fought in wars. The despair, the hopelessness, and the feeling of wanting to die can all come when a person is surrounded by death and cruelty. The apostle Paul also knew despair as he did the Lord’s work and felt surrounded by enemies and hatred. He said that he felt that he was being burdened beyond his strength, and that he despaired of life itself. He and his companions even felt that they were certain to die. But the apostle had something that the young man Paul in the story did not have. The apostle Paul and his companions had hope. They trusted in a God who was able to raise the dead, and who could deliver his people from the worst of dangers. They found their hope in God, and Paul invited the Corinthians to share in the blessing of hope by praying for them.
Sometimes we might know terrible despair and hopelessness when we have serious problems, and we might even feel as if things are more than we can handle. But we have hope in God, who raised Jesus from the dead and is able to save and protect us from the worst of problems. He hears our prayers and the prayers of people who pray for us, and gives us hope that he is with us and will help us in the way that is best. Jesus died on the cross to make us his own people, and he will never leave us. Nothing in all this world can ever separate us from the love of God and the hope and strength he is always working to give us.
Prayer:
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for the love and strength and hope that you give us through Jesus. In His Name, Amen.
Source:
Remarque, Erich Maria All Quiet on the Western Front Columbus, Georgia: Little, Brown, and Company, 1929.