Hope

Everyone struggles. But what am I struggling toward? Throughout different seasons of my life, I’ve been reminded that “this too shall pass.” But when the depth of my anguish overwhelms my struggle, there is no ability to grasp such a thought. It doesn’t seem like my struggle will end. What then? “Where does my help come from?” And I wait.

“Then only do we rightly advance the discipline of the cross, when we learn that this life, judged in itself, is troubled, turbulent, unhappy in countless ways, and in no respect clearly happy; that all those things which are judged to be its goods are uncertain, fleeting, vain, and vitiated by many intermingled evils. We conclude that in this life we are to seek and hope for nothing but struggle; when we think of our crown, we are to raise our eyes to heaven. For this we must believe: that the mind is never seriously aroused to desire and ponder the life to come unless it be previously imbued with contempt or the present life.” John Calvin Institutes Book 3.9.1

Everyday that passes drives me to pray for a peace that passes understanding, a peace that calms in the midst of tragedy. It's easy for me to allow my circumstances and feelings to dictate my reality. But there's something more satisfying. God promises that He is greater than my limited mind and turbulent emotions. So I wait; I rest; I say to myself, my help comes from the Lord, hope in Him, my salvation and my God. (Ps. 42.5 & 121.2)

Come Then, Lord Jesus

1. The Church has waited long Her absent Lord to see
And still in loneliness she waits A friendless stranger she
Age after age has gone, Sun after sun has set
And still, in weeds of widowhood, She weeps a mourner yet

Come then, Lord Jesus, come
Come then, Lord Jesus
Come then, Lord Jesus, come, come, come.

3. The serpent's brood increase, The powers of hell grow bold
The conflicts thickens, faith is low, And love is waxing cold
How long, O Lord our God, Holy and true and good
Wilt thou not judge Thy suffering Church, Her sighs and tears and blood?

4. We long to hear thy voice, To see Thee face to face
To share Thy crown and glory then, As now we share thy grace
Should not the loving bride, The absent Bridegroom mourn?
Should she not wear the weeds of grief, Until her Lord return?

5. The whole creation groans, And wait to hear that voice
That shall restore her comeliness, And make her wastes rejoice
Come, Lord, and wipe away, The curse, the sin, the stain
And make this blighted world of ours, Thine own fair world again

Come then, Lord Jesus, come
Come then, Lord Jesus
Come then, Lord Jesus, come, come, come.