While the woman of Samaria and I have many differences, we have one thing in common. I, too, find myself from time to time running on empty.
In the busyness of ministry,
the weariness of activity,
the excitement of opportunity,
I sometimes wake up and realize, “I am so dry and thirsty.” Invariably, when I examine myself, the reason for the dryness of spirit can be traced to one thing. I’m not drinking freely of the Water of Life. I’m neglecting my Bible study. I’m rushing through my prayer time. I’m not listening to the voice of the Lord because I’m just too busy to be still. At those times I carve out quiet interludes to confess my sins and read and meditate and pray and listen and just drink Him in. Thank You, dear God, for still giving us today, Living Water from the Well that never goes dry.
Believers of every generation have triumphed over their suffering as they placed their faith in God, trusting Him even when they didn’t understand why. And every generation has suffered to a greater or lesser degree.
My generation has not been exempt. There has been unfathomable hopelessness and helplessness in the killing fields of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, in the massacres under the vicious anarchy of the Red Guard in China, in the senseless slaughter between tribes in Rwanda, in the torture chambers supervised by the butcher of Baghdad. . . . Sometimes it’s just so hard to understand!
Yet God is bigger than our suffering. We can have hope as we place our trust in Him – in His faithfulness and in His ability to work out in our lives His purposes that will be for our ultimate good and His eternal glory. So . . . when you suffer, just trust Him!
Exiled to the island of Patmos in the midst of the Aegean Sea, the apostle John knew he would be facing death in the not-too-distant future. This was the very moment in time when God chose to give John a vision of the glory of Jesus Christ! This vision included a tantalizing glimpse into Heaven, where one day God Himself will live forever with His people. This glorious vision has been recorded in the final book of the Bible, Revelation, because John was commanded to write down what he saw. The vision was to be not only for his own personal comfort and encouragement but for all people down through the centuries who, when facing daily challenges, extraordinary circumstances, or even when plunging to certain death, could do so with courage and with hope.
Do you believe this? Do you believe that . . .
when there is no hope,
when there is no recourse,
when there is no answer,
when there is no help,
when there is no way,
when there is no remedy,
when there is no solution,
when there is nobody,
there is hope if you have Jesus?! Do you believe that Jesus can make a way when there is no way?
With Jesus, all things are possible!
What will it be like on that day when we hear the clarion call of the archangel’s trumpet? Quicker than you or I can blink an eye, believers will feel their feet lifting up off the ground, we will be aware of certain changes taking place in our bodies that will enable us to physically live in eternity, and we will look up-into the face of Jesus! We will be swept into the clouds of His glory! And if we can drag our eyes away from His beautiful face, we will see that Jesus is surrounded by our loved ones who had trusted Him by faith and who had been raised from the dead!
Jesus Christ is coming! He is coming! On any day, at any moment, “in the twinkling of an eye . . . at an hour when you do not expect him . . . he who is coming will come and will not delay” (1 Cor. 15:52; Luke 12:40; Heb. 10:37). Now that’s a promise that gives us HOPE!
