December 6 • Prisoners of Hope

Choosing to live in hope is like a prison: there is no way out once inside. You refuse to quit, because you know there is more after this. You will not give up, because you are certain there is another chapter. You are held captive by something much stronger, firmer. You are convicted by the reality you know to be true. Hope is a lifelong sentence of persevering.

 There are many exits from a hopeless life. People turn to addictions, substances, self-harm, and meaninglessness. We can be tempted to escape our pain. But these escapes end up being worse prisons, trapping us in guilt, shame, and regret. There is a way through. There is more than our current experience. It is not easy but bind yourself to hope. Though God slay me, yet I will hope in him. [Job 13:15]

 Hope is found in holding together the promises of God with the disparate experiences of life. Hope undergirds our existence and holds us up when nothing else can. Jesus defeated the power of death by going through death. He came out the other side victorious. And Jesus has left the prison doors of hope open. Not that you should escape, but that those who are breaking free from all other prisons have a real refuge in a cruel world. Paul stayed in prison so that the jailer could escape the prison of hopelessness. Daniel did not fight his way out of the lions’ den because he knew there was another lion, seeking to devour the soul of his king and country. The young men submitted themselves to the flames because they knew there was a fire that could sear their souls and not merely their flesh. 

 Don’t be afraid of the prison of hope. There is Life beyond suffering, and there is existence beyond the grave. You know there is a blessing to be found when you carry the burden. Choose to stay in this prison, because you are showing others the way that can set them free. Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope! [Zechariah 9:12]