The endless circle of life. Everything is the same. There is nothing to look forward to, nothing to hope for in this life.
We wake up, go to work, come home, sleep, then wake up, go to work, etc.
When I started my first full-time job, I finally understood why so many people are depressed by the thought of work. There is such a push in our society to find a dream job, one that you're so passionate about that when you wake up in the morning, you rush to leave because you're ready to be at work. Well, for many, they have no such luxury. Think about all the millions of people in developing countries who are just happy to have a job at all that allows their families to eat. I don't know who might read these blogs, but I'm assuming most of us live in a developed country with homes, cars, and grocery stores at every corner. Yet, here we are, being told by society that "we are enough" in one breath and that "we must find a job that brings us purpose" in the next. And it is silly for our entire society to waste countless hours, striving to find a job that will completely fulfill them and satisfy them because it is impossible. Yes, are there certain gifts the Lord gives us and a plan for our lives that He will bring to fruition? Absolutely. But that doesn't mean our job is going to be a dream every day of our lives. Even those who would claim to have a "dream" job would not say that every day is fun.
The Lord does use all things for His purposes, including our jobs. But our hope does not lie in our jobs.
When I graduated from college, I told many people that there were certain types of jobs I would prefer. I applied and applied and applied but to no avail. No one would hire me. Finally, I was referred by someone to a company where I applied and was hired two weeks later. It was not what I wanted to do, and I also was in a separate building from everyone else. The only person I was sharing office space with was my boss, which I believed meant I would never make friends.
Even though I thought in my head that I was only placing my hope in God, it wasn't until I started my job and became depressed that I realized I had placed hope in having an "exciting" job that fulfilled all of my dreams and used my specific gifts and had lots of wonderful people who would become my friends. Not that there is anything wrong with dreaming or hoping for something. But the kind of hope I was placing in a job and in having friends was the type of hope that should only be placed in God--the kind of hope that tells us why we are here on this earth. The kind of hope that gives us a reason for living. And if that hope is placed in anything other than God, our reason for being here, for life, will begin to quake.
The weekend after my first few days of work was a nightmare. I wanted to cry and mope and do nothing, especially since the few friends I did have were unavailable.
Then that Sunday, our pastor spoke on Genesis 46-47. It described Jacob being told by God that it was okay for him to go to Egypt, to take his family there and live with Joseph (normally going to Egypt is not something sanctioned by God if you've ever read the Old Testament). Once Jacob is there, he tells Pharaoh that his days have been "few and evil" even though he is 130 years old (47:10). But he blesses Pharaoh nonetheless.
After almost being killed by his own brother, being manipulated into working for his uncle for twenty years, losing his favorite wife and his favorite son, another son committing incest, his daughter being raped, and even more terrible things than can be written, Jacob has come to the end of those few and evil days of his life. And he has hope. He has hope in the God of his forefathers who has been with him in every hardship he has faced, now there with him in Egypt, and who will continue to be with him for all eternity.
We have such a hope in God. It can be so easy for us to be wrapped inside of the circumstances of our lives and to think that those things define us. We want to be happy so much that we forget what brings us joy. The things we spend our time grasping at to bring us happiness, the things we place our hope in, are usually not the same things that bring us joy. And to be honest, if our hope is placed in being happy, we will be depressed and unsatisfied for it is not the true aim of our lives. It is not the purpose for which we have been placed on this earth.
In fact, Romans 5 says that we should "glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope" (vv. 3-4). So no matter whether our lives are currently full of sufferings or void of them, the purpose for which we are here is to know, glorify, and obey God. It is to love Him and love others. It is to share Him with those around us and to HOPE in His return, His Kingdom, His reign, and our eternal dwelling place with Him. We live because we have hope. And we have hope because of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for our sins, doing everything that needed to be done so that all we had to do was repent and confess Him as our Lord and follow Him for the rest of our days.
Now isn't that a GREAT hope?
So when the days of life become boring, lonely, sad, and even evil, will we become depressed and despair over the circumstances of our lives? Or will we choose to find hope in the God who loves us enough to die for us, redeem us from sin, and be with us for the rest of eternity?
As Psalm 42: 11 says,
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
I pray that you and I will choose to find our hope in God alone today and every day. I pray that we will have joy, endless joy, knowing that we are forgiven and loved wholly and completely by a perfect, just God. And I pray that we will remember where our hope is found so that even on the hard days, we can rejoice and share that great hope with those who do not know Him.
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15: 13).
Written on Oct 9, 2022 by former Lets Grow Together Blog Manager - Kelly Miller.
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