Dr. Rick Mandl - July 15, 2020
What Do You Do When Life Doesn't Go The Way You Hoped?
What Do You Do When Life Doesn't
Go The Way You Hoped?
Wednesday July 15, 2020
Hey church family. How are you doing when it comes to the latest chapter in this book that is being written that we’re reluctantly calling “The New Normal?”
One of our church members summed up the feelings of a lot of people in an email she sent me this week. I had reached out to her asking if there was anything we could be praying for, for her and her family. She had been away from church for a few weeks and had just been able to be back with us for our live service for the first time this past Sunday and she wrote…. I really enjoyed being on the church campus and seeing smiling eyes… and singing under my mask. She confesses “That is my rebellious side.” She says I am so sad that our church will be closed again. Please pray for me because I am exhausted by this quarantine/social distancing. I am getting depressed because I cannot do what I want to do. Even going to Target is such a task, and seeing bare shelves worries me. I try very hard to be thankful for everything but the feeling creeps up every now and then. My husband does not worry about anything so he is ok. And then she thanked me for reaching out.
In reflecting on her words, it started me thinking... what do you do “When Things Don’t Go The Way You Hoped?” And that started me thinking about an incident that took place on that very first Easter Morning. The incident is recorded in Luke 24:13. I’d encourage you to read it for yourself, but until you do, I’ll give you the summary. The story opens with two individuals traveling on a road outside of Jerusalem on that very first Easter Sunday Morning. As they’re walking along they were talking about everything that had happened back in Jerusalem that weekend. Specifically, they were talking about the crucifixion of Jesus. As that point in their conversation, Jesus himself came up and began walking with them. But the text tells us that they were kept from recognizing him. Jesus engages in conversation with them, and asks them what it was that they were discussing. One of the two asks Jesus - and remember this one doesn’t know that he is talking with Jesus – he asks him if he’s the only one visiting Jerusalem who doesn’t know about the things that have happened over the last few days. Jesus, asks, “What are these things, or which you speak?” And they tell him that they were talking about Jesus of Nazareth. They refer to him as a prophet who was powerful in word and deed – They recognized that the hand of God had been upon Him. And then they shared some words that were very telling.
They said... “We had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. We had hoped that he would be the one to restore the kingdom? We had hoped... “ But that was three days ago, and now he is dead, and now hope is gone. They had hopes... They had expectations as to how God would work things out. But God had not worked things out in the way they expected. And now they were without hope. They were hopeless. Upon hearing that, Jesus didn’t abandon them. But spent some time with them. Shared a meal with them. And explained to them that these things that had happened, including the death and resurrection of Jesus didn’t represent a thwarting of God’s plan for their Messiah, rather they were things that were absolutely necessary for the fulfillment of God’s plan.
And from that encounter, I was reminded, that when things don’t turn out the way that we hoped, that doesn’t mean that it’s a time to give up hope, but rather to realize that God may still be at work, working out something bigger and better than we could ever have anticipated. Remember, when it comes to hope, our hope is only as strong as the one we’re placing our hope in, and if we’re hoping in Jesus, the promise of God is that we will not be disappointed. Continue to hope in Jesus. He will never fail you!
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