[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during December 2020]
Are you comfortable in tunnels? Do you strain your eyes looking for the light at the end of the tunnel in the hope that what you see it is not the headlight of another locomotive coming towards you?
For too many years I used to commute to central London using the Gatwick Express. On one occasion the train broke down in the middle of the tunnel at Coulsdon. Two and a half hours with no power, no motors, no sounds, just darkness. Every ten minutes or so another train would pass, its passengers unaware of the plight of others just a few feet away; its lights the only reminder of life in the world above us. Occasionally there would be a glimmer of light as somebody opened their phone in the hope of finding a signal, but with no success.
In May of last year Michael Goble wrote about his visit to a tunnel in Jerusalem. His was a cold, wet but memorable experience, exploring the tunnel that King Hezekiah, king of Judah, had built in order to bring water into the city. The king had built the tunnel in the hope that the people of Jerusalem would be able to resist an impending siege.
Last week Martin spoke about hope – illustrating the difference between hope that is based on wishful thinking and hope that is derived from the certainty that God’s word provides. In our illustrations above, the hope is that of the first type: ambition without assurance.
The writers of the New Testament epistles used ‘hope’ in both senses. Many times they wrote to people expressing the desire to visit them, but they also wrote to remind them of the certainty of hope in Christ. Here is one example:
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
[1 Peter ch1 v3 nivuk]
These words were written by Edward Mote in 1834:
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
The final verse is appropriate for the season of Advent:
When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne
Let’s replace hopelessness with Godfulness – it’s not wishful thinking.
~~~~~~~~
.
Return to Mid-week Meditations
Jump to Index of Bible Passages
.
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
