the source of HOPE

Did you know Matt has a blog of sorts?  It's  a place where he posts reflections on his study of the Word, of culture, of religions, etc..., and if you're looking to be challenged and grow, it's a great place to explore.

Yesterday he shared a bit from his OT class that touched me (you will quickly recognize this is not me writing :)...

"I had a moving moment this morning in my OT Historical Books course. As we met for our penultimate class lecture for the semester, discussion of Ezra and Nehemiah was on the schedule. After going through the normal motions of outlining the historical, historical-theological and literary structures of the book of Ezra, we jumped into our chapter by chapter commentary/discussion.

One of the themes immediately apparent in the book of Ezra is the writer’s emphasis on God’s faithfulness. Elohim is faithful to fulfill his promises to his people.

In 586/7 BC, the people of the southern kingdom of Judah suffered a serious blow to not only their political nation, but also their faith. The people of God, who believed they were under the divine protection of YHWH himself found themselves vulnerable and exposed to attack from the gentile nation of Babylon, led by Nebuchadnezzar.

The books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Lamentations and the latter parts of Isaiah record the deep pain and confusion experienced by God’s people as a result of their fall to a pagan nation. However, in the midst of that pain came what seemed to be at the time a lofty message of hope for restoration of Jerusalem. Even though the pagan armies pillaged the sacred temple, the holy of holies, the day would come when God’s people would be restored in righteousness. The glory days of Israel would return and the temple restored and the people of Israel would be a people marked by righteousness.

With this frame of reference, the book of Ezra opens with the promise fulfilled. The first two chapters in particular, strongly underline the fulfillment of God’s promise to His people to restore that which had been lost c. 50 years prior.

With this message, I asked my students to apply this message of God’s faithfulness to restore a nation to their own Haitian context. At first, I was a bit surprised that they were slow to respond – so I pushed them a bit -

“Guys, does this imply that there is hope for Haiti that one day God will restore this nation?” There were some nods, but doubtful nods.

“Come on, guys. What’s wrong?”

Joshua – “He’ll do it if the people of Haiti repent” – in a sad voice. Joshua’s position as affirmed by his classmates.

I realized, as this intelligent, educated and able young man responded in such a way that perhaps hope among Haitians is lost in light of our perpetual failure. When Joshua thinks of who God is, he has hope for change in Haiti. However, when Joshua thinks that God’s redemptive work on Haiti depends on the Haitian responsibility to repent, discouragement sets in.

With this, I was reminded that hope for any nation or individual lies with God and God alone. Yes, God’s redemptive work in our lives depends upon our human responsibility to repent and believe – however (and this is a BIG “however”) – even our repentance is a work of the Holy Spirit through God’s grace. This means that hope for Haiti must begin with the diligent prayers of His saints. We must pray for hearts to repent and believe and trust that God’s prevenient grace is enough to move people to follow Him."