(The following was used for an oral presentation that includedextemporaneous and personal remarks not intended for publication. This has not been edited for print.)

Rev. Lonnie A. Richardson
March 11, 2001
Joshua 1:1-9

There are No Hopeless Situations
Among Life’s Disappointments

There are thousands of ways in which we are disappointed in life.  Anexpectation didn't happen. Something we hoped would happen didn't quite make it and we get discouraged. But discouragement canbecome an opportunity to perfect a hope. As Joshua said: “have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not beterrified; do not be discouraged, for the lord your god will be with you wherever you go." (Joshua 1:9)

A director of a medical clinic told me about a terminally ill young man who came in for  is usual treatment. A new intern was on duty said to him casually and cruelly, “youknow, don’t you, that you won’t live out the year?” As the young man left, he stopped by the director’s desk weeping andsaid, “that man took away my hope.” The director replied, “I guess he did, maybe it’s time to find a new one.”

Alexander pope was the author of the oft-quoted proverb; "Hope springs eternal in the humanbreast." But it is really not true. At times we all lose hope, and it is not always because of loss or failure. Right here inthis community, there are hundreds of affluent successful people, who are dead inside, empty, hollow, without hope. Where do youturn when hope dries up and you are discouraged? Is there a hope when hope is taken away? Is there hope when the situation appearshopeless? Absolutely!

Christianhope, is not a passion for the possible, it is a passion for the promise. In the bible, it is a confident patience. Jesussaid, "let not your hearts be troubled for I am with you." That is the hope that is awakened by the gospel. It is thegood news that right now, whatever you are facing, in your moment of weakness, peril, or hopelessness, Jesus is available to you.His strength can be imparted to you, his wisdom granted to you to strengthen you and make you to stand. That is the hope of thegospel.

Ilike what Albert Payson Terhum described as the essence of the Christian hope. He said, “Hope is the reality that "godalways finishes his sentences." There is a story of a Christian who complained about the hardness of life and circumstancesthat surrounded him. "I wish that god had never made me" he angrily stated. But a friend replied, "you are not yetmade, you are only being made, and you are quarreling with god's process!" Be available to god in those vulnerable moments ofapparent hopelessness. Our greatest availability is our availability.

The good news of the gospel is that we do not have to establish residency in the disappointment zone.Discouraged lives can be directed! We can move from disappointment of defeat to lives of faith in Christ. When you arediscouraged, renew your willingness to serve god regardless of your current situation. Here are some biblical examples:

Isaiah goes to thetemple to pray and mourn the loss of the good king Uzziah when god comes to him in a vision. He is afraid and cries out "I ama man of unclean lips". He feels unworthy of god's call, but is purified by an angel and then answers the lord's call bysaying: "Here I am, send me!" In all of the scriptures, this is one of the most classic examples of the use of thesewords as a response by those who are called by god to serve in a special way, but it is by no means the only one.

In the book ofGenesis, god called Jacob in a dream and he responded "Here I am". When God called out to Moses from the burning bush,he too responded with the words "Here I am."

Where are you whendisappointed and hopeless? Say to God, “Here I am!”

Remember from last week, hope, is the ability to hear the melody of thefuture and faith is the courage to dance to its tune today.

Dance with God when disappointed. There are no hopeless situations; there areonly people who have grown hopeless about them.

Prayer

Our father, we thank you that you are the god of hope. You have sent a word of truth into thisbroken, despairing world. What a remarkable thing it is, in a world where everything comes to us biased and slanted by those withaxes to grind, to find a place where there is a word of reality, a word of truth that we can trust! Send us now back into ourworld, to our friends, our neighbors, the hopeless ones around us, and help us to demonstrate, by the joy and peace of our lives,that we have found the answer, we have found the place of hope. In Jesus' name. Amen.