“But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Acts 2:24). Jesus was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power (2 Corinthians 13:4).
God stunned evil. He caught it off guard. God scorned evil’s arrogance. In the midst of evil’s thickest darkness, God dispelled the darkness with the light and the power of the resurrection of Christ. This is our hope, its foundation. God is the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were (Romans 4:17). This is our hope in the midst of the darkness of the evil that seeks to destroy our faith, our hope, our love and our lives. This is our hope when in the darkness we find ourselves battling anxiety, hopelessness and despair. As we look at Jesus, we have hope. In Jesus, we see the goodness of God that surpasses all the evil in this world. In His resurrection, God’s goodness is seen in all its power. Jesus Christ was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by God’s power (2 Corinthians 13:4).
As we travel through the darkness, in God, through Jesus Christ, we travel with hope. It is a living hope, sustaining us by our faith that God gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were. A living hope confident…
…God will lead us through the darkness, just as He did His Son, giving us strength to persevere and to overcome.
…God can and will transform the darkness, the evil assaulting us into His instrument for good.
…that as long as we are drawing breath, God is with us and working in our lives.
…that though now we do not understand, we entrust our lives and the lives of those we love to God, knowing He does understand and that His love never forsakes us.
…God, by the power with which He raised Christ Jesus, will raise the dead to life, a life beyond anything we can imagine.
[Editor’s Note: If it were not for hope underwritten by God, promised by the Holy Spirit and founded upon Christ, often, life would be unbearable for many upon earth. In the throes of man’s deepest and darkest hour, the faithful child of God, nevertheless, has hope of divine origin (Romans 8:18; Matthew 19:27-29). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]
