The Spirit of God, the Master, is on me 
because God anointed me. 
He sent me to preach good news to the poor, 
heal the heartbroken,
Announce freedom to all captives, pardon all prisoners.

God sent me to announce the year of his grace— 
a celebration of God’s destruction of our enemies— 
and to comfort all who mourn,

To care for the needs of all who mourn in Zion, 
give them bouquets of roses instead of ashes, 
Messages of joy instead of news of doom, 
a praising heart instead of a languid spirit. 
Rename them “Oaks of Righteousness” 
planted by God to display his glory.

Isaiah 61:1-3

This beginning section of Isaiah 61 is a prophet declaring what his mission is.  There are two types of people referred to here.  The first is the hurting, mourning, heavy-hearted, prisoners, etc.  The second is the one chosen to announce the message.  We are born into a world of pain, heartache, gloom and doom.  A lot of our lives we spend living in that prison of devastation.  But then Christ comes along and changes all that.  Breaks us free.  Heals our wounds.  Gives us hope.  Then we are moved from the first group to the second.

Because of what Jesus did for us way back in the day, we are no longer stuck in the cycle of destruction.  Christ followers have been moved into a new life of light, beauty and hope!  But because we are in this new group, we are called to share this message.  Too often we leave that to the pastors of the local church.  ”Oh, God called them to this so they are better at it than I will ever be.”  Well don’t forget that your neighbors and friends that you already have relationships with need to hear this message too!

Remember this week that as a Christ follower you are called to share the message of God’s grace and love!

Ever been stuck in traffic so bad that you feel like your grandpa using his walker with tennis balls on it would be going faster?  You sit in the back with countless cars in front of you just praying to go just 20 mph.  You have somewhere to be.  You’ve tried changing lanes when the other is going faster only to watch it stop dead and the first start up.  Yup.  Traffic sucks.

When you are sitting back there behind all the traffic, it looks as though there is no hope.  All you see is brake lights.  No one moving.  Nothing good.  We all know that it is easy to see life this way.  Things get rough and there is no hope.  Nothing giving.  Nothing moving.  Everything seems to be standing still.  Even moving backwards.  Yeah, when all you can see from your point of view is the insurmountable problems in front of you, it is hard to see what is good.

But there is hope.  There is a different view.  There are many other angles to see.  Each one shows the situation to be a little bit different.  If you move to the access road on the side of that packed highway you can see that there are cars moving.  There is space between them.  There is good coming.  Maybe you need to see the good in what was prevented.  You lost your job only to miss out on the scandal that was about to take place.  You got caught in your sin before it took you to a place beyond the reconciliation of your friendships.  Because you had to sit in that traffic you didn’t get to the intersection in time for the car crash that could have taken your family.

It is definitely hard to see the good when everything seems stacked against you, but God sees all the angles that we are incapable of seeing.  He knows the plans that He has for you.  For future.  For hope.  Next time you are backed up behind that impossible traffic, trust that you will get there.  In His timing.

Throughout our lives we go through times that are painful, times that are difficult.  Some get so bad they make us want to throw in the towel and give up.  We deal with deaths of loved ones, destroyed marriages, financial problems, lost jobs, hurt, etc.  Sometimes we like to think that because we are Christians our lives shouldn’t be hard.  We shouldn’t be going through the tough times.  But nothing could be farther from the truth!

All throughout the Bible there are people who were very acquainted with having their world’s rocked.  Job, David, Paul, Peter, and on.  God didn’t spare the leaders from the Bible from hurt and pain, yet we live our lives not expecting anything to ever happen.  They will come.  Times will be rough.  You will have hurt.  But there is good news.  They aren’t there just to torture us!  We go through those times to to learn, be taught, be drawn to God.  We have hope in Him because He knows what He is doing!  David and Job are very vocal about their hope.  When the world seemed like it was about to end for them, they had hope in God.  The hope helps sustain us.

Without hope the world is a pretty dark and depressing place.  When the hard times strike, hope in God.  It may be painful right now, but He knows what He is doing.  He has a plan.  He does so that we can have a future and hope!  He’s not just up their flipping a coin and waiting for you to screw up.  He loves you!

When the hurt seems more than you can bear, He is there for you.  When you get to the point that you don’t think you can go on, hope in Him.  When the world around you, family, friends, leaders fail you, be filled with hope in God!

Set this hope in me, Set this hope in me

That I may be pure and holy
That I may be like You only
That I may be completely free

Though You slay me I will hope
Hope inspires my endurance
Your hope is my anchor
God of hope fill me

- Charlie Hall – God Of Hope

It’s funny how we hope for the craziest things.  This morning I woke up having hope for a few things like that.  I hope that the surf gets better so I can go surf.  I hope that OU beats Texas Tech and Texas is still left out.  I hope that the weather is as awesome as it is yesterday.  I hope that I will figure out this odd time change and not sleep through too much football on Saturdays.  But sometimes it seems that hope is harder to come by.

When you have hope, the little things don’t seem to be more than little things.  But sometimes it is harder to hang on to that hope.  When something you really want and need continues to elude you.  When something always seems to be just outside your grasp.  When you are at the door you have been led to but it seems to be cracked and not opened enough to get through.  It makes you question things.  It makes you question yourself.  It makes you question what you want.

What do you tell someone in this position?  The right words aren’t always easy to come by.  It reminds me of a song by Charlie Hall.  This is what I would pray for you.

Set this hope in me, Set this hope in me

Though You slay me I will hope
Hope inspires my endurance
Your hope is my anchor
God of hope fill me