Holding Hope in the Valley
“The eyes of the Lord are upon even the weakest worshipers who love him – those who wait in hope and expectation for the strong, steady love of God.
God will deliver them from death, even the certain death of famine, with no one to help.
The Lord alone is our radiant hope and we trust in him with all our hearts.
His wrap-around presence will strengthen us.
As we trust, we rejoice with an uncontained joy flowing from Yahweh!
Let your love and steadfast kindness overshadow us continually, for we trust and we wait upon you!”
–Psalm 33:18-22 (TPT)
Hope feels dangerous when our present circumstances are filling our minds and emotions with despair. Yet that is exactly where radical hope can be found. If your last couple of years have felt anything like mine, then I know that hope has been hard for you to find at times too. I’m sorry. I see you and I grieve with you. I’ll be honest and admit that on some of those days I felt like I barely made it through, my focus was simply on surviving each set of 24 hours. But I made it and I’m making it, and so, my friend, will you.
When our mental, physical or spiritual health becomes overwhelmed by outside influences or circumstances, we can find ourselves needing to cling to something or someone for support and help. In the case of our mental health, I liken this to the image of someone standing and clinging to a tree whilst they are bombarded by noise which is being blasted at them through a megaphone. The volume sets their teeth on edge, causes their hair to stand on end, and forces their eyes to shut tightly against the onslaught as they try and escape into the safety of the tree in order to block out some of the assault.
We are triune beings, made up of body, mind and spirit. When we cut our skin, the physical pain we experience directs us to get help, to stop and attend to the wound, to bandage it and care for that area while it heals. In the same way, our minds can be hurt in numerous ways as we navigate our way through life, relationships, social injustices, political seasons, wars and pandemics. I’ve heard it said before that we were created with the ability to hold the stories, cares, joys and woes of a village, but now we live in an age where we find ourselves carrying the stories, injustices, cares and concerns of a global society. That is a huge weight. It is beyond the ability of any of us to attempt to carry without it causing us real harm.
Take a deep breath with me now.
Breath in…
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… and exhale…
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Now read this beautiful truth:
“His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you.
You can run under his covering of majesty and hide.
His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm.”
–Psalm 91:4 (TPT)
There is a story in the Bible when one of the Old Testament legends, Elijah, reached a moment of despair following a massacre of his fellow prophets and the threat of death aimed at him by the King and Queen. His soul became so overwhelmed with the grief, trauma and fear of this moment that he begged for God to end his life.
“He went and sat down under a shrub and asked the Lord to take his life:
‘I’ve had enough! Now, O Lord, take my life.”
–1 Kings 19:4 (NET)
Rather than scolding Elijah, or telling him to get a grip and ‘man-up’, God responded by giving him rest. He let him sleep and eat, comforted him with his presence and restored his sense of felt-safety until he was revived and strengthened enough to go back to the work that God had called him to.
It is ok to stop, to take a breath, to allow yourself a break in order for the part of your mind, heart and spirit which has been damaged to be restored. There is hope. You are not alone.
This loneliness, anxiety, depression, fear, anger, hurt, betrayal, trauma will not last forever.
“God has ordained me as mind, body and spirit, and I need to treat all aspects of myself in order to retain my equilibrium.”
–Rev Will Van Der Hart
Maybe you simply need to be reminded of the truth of God’s goodness today, to lift your gaze to the Creator Who Sets Us Free and know that he is sheltering you. Maybe this is a confirmation of a sense you’ve had that you need to take a break, schedule that time off work, and let your mind and body rest from the constant struggle of striving to survive. Maybe this is a prompting to reach out to someone for some more in-depth support, because you recognise that this weight you’ve been carrying for so long now won’t be shifted with a day off of work. We have some great resources that we would love to direct you to, so please see below for links to amazing professionals who would love to walk with you into full health.
Wherever you find yourself today, I want to remind you of the audacious power of hope that we have access to in every season. So let me leave you with one last verse to hold onto this week:
“Let us get a firm and steady hold on this hope we say is ours, for the one who made the promise to us can be fully trusted.”
–Hebrews 10:23 (FNV)