When Hope Is Hard to Come by...

8 

“Oh that I might have my request,

    and that God would fulfill my hope,

9 

that it would please God to crush me,

    that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

10 

This would be my comfort;

    I would even exult in pain unsparing,

    for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

11 

What is my strength, that I should wait?

    And what is my end, that I should be patient?

12 

Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze?

13 

Have I any help in me,

    when resource is driven from me?

(Job 6:8-13)

Looking up "hope" in a Bible concordance will get you a lot of listings, especially in the book of Job.  How ironic in a story where Job is searching for hope.  Here is a man who firmly believes in the sovereignty and goodness of God, yet struggling to find it in his own life at that point.  Sometimes the pain seems too great and our strength far too small.  The last phrase is the key: it is when we get to the end of our own resources; it is when only God can and will take over, that we will see hope resurface, light at the end of the tunnel, and have return that expectation that all will be well, turn out right, and make sense to us.  As the writer of Hebrews reminds us: hope isn't hope if we can see it - at least not with total clarity.  May we find our Hope in Him alone for today's struggles.