02/25/2019
2. The Hope You Need
“We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain,” Hebrews 6:19
Somewhere along the many miles of southern California shoreline walked a young, 20-ish year-old woman with a disease in her body and a revolver in her hand.
She had called late one evening. We talked for a long time. A troubled young woman, her mind was filled with doubts. I believe she had advanced leukemia. The doctors told her she would not live much longer. She checked herself out of a hospital because, as she put it, she "couldn't take another day of that terrible isolation."
Her husband had left her. Her two-month-old daughter had recently died.
Her best friend had been killed in an auto accident. Her life was broken. She had run out of hope.
She and I spoke calmly and quietly about what was happening. I did a lot of listening. There were periods when there was silence on the phone for thirty to forty-five seconds. I did not know where she was. I still do not know her full name. She spoke of taking her husband's revolver and going out on the beach to finish it all. She asked me a lot of questions about su***de.
In what seemed an inappropriate moment . . . I felt peace, a total absence of panic. I had no fear that she would hang up and take her life. I simply spoke very, very quietly about her future. I made no special promise that she would immediately be healed. I knew that she might not live much longer, as her doctors were talking to her in terms of a very few weeks—perhaps days. I spoke to her about Christ and the hope He could provide. After a sigh and with an ache that was obvious, she hung up.
Thirty minutes later my phone rang again. It was the same young woman. She had a friend who was a nurse, who used to come to our church. The nurse had given her a New Testament in which my name and phone number was written, and she had said, "If you really are in deep need, I think he will understand." By the way, the nurse—her closest friend—was the one who had been killed in the auto accident. She had nothing to cling to from that friendship but memories and this Testament. She read from it.
I said, "What does that little Book say to you?" "Well, I think the first part of it is biography and the last part is a group of letters that explain how to do what is in that biography." (That's a good analysis of the New Testament.) I said, "Have you done any of that?" And she had called back to say, "Yes, I've done that. I decided, David, that I would, without reservation give myself to Jesus Christ. I'm still afraid; I still have doubts. I still do not know what tomorrow's going to bring, but I want you to know that I have turned my life over to Jesus, and I am trusting Him through this. He has given me new hope . . . the one thing I really needed." After a little more conversation we hung up the phone.
It is very possible that someone reading, or hearing this, feels the very same way. You are thinking thoughts that you have never entertained before, and you are thinking them more often and more seriously. Without trying to use any of the clichés on you, I would say that this hope that only Christ can bring is the only way through. I have no answer other than Jesus Christ. I have no “plan B”, I can not promise you healing, nor can I predict that your world will come back right side up. But I can promise you, He will receive you as you come to Him in faith. And He will bring back the hope you need so desperately. The good news is this: That hope will not only get you through this particular trial, it will ultimately take you into God's presence when you die because you have received the gift of eternal life through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ your Lord.
Ready to give up? The only answer is Jesus. He will bring back the hope you desperately need.
David E. Bruce
