"Hope"

Wednesday, September 12, 2001

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope" (Lamentations 3:21).

This morning I, like most of you, am still in dismay at the incredible horror of yesterday. Last night when my family and I prayed we considered the tens of thousands of families that were impacted. Being a chaplain I was moved that one of the first reported victims was a New York City Fire Department chaplain that was apparently deployed with the rescue effort following the first attack. I started early yesterday and didn’t speak to my family till about 11:00AM. Ester said, "Daddy, I’m glad you weren’t in that building". I wasn’t, but thousands were, as well as those on the planes, those involved in rescue efforts or those merely in the vicinity at the time.

Such an absolute, callous disregard for human life is practically beyond imagination. We must confront the diabolical religious system that would prompt such as an indescribably evil act (while promising immediate paradise for the perpetrators). Usama bin Ladin has congratulated the killers and hate-filled crowds in Palestine and Iraq cheer the dastardly deeds. I myself struggle with hate and the correct response as a follower of Christ. But I do forthrightly hate the evil one who is behind these despicable acts and this damnable religious system.

Hope is one of the most necessary spiritual and emotional components of life. Without it we live in despair. In the book of Lamentations the prophet Jeremiah is living through the times of Judah’s final conquest. In the portion that precedes the daily verse he describes the horrible, despicable events that accompanied this time and Jeremiah seems to be teetering on despair. But the daily text is one of the greatest transition verses in all of Scripture. In the midst of this terrific despair Jeremiah writes, "This I call to mind and therefore I have hope". What Jeremiah called to mind brought hope from despair and today some 2,600 years later, so it will for us as we reflect on these immutable attributes of God.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, ‘The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for Him.’ The LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD" (Lamentations 3:22-26).

Have hope today,

Stephen C. Weber

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