Enduring Hope for the DisillusionedSample

Enduring hope, rooted in faith, produces patience. The apostle Paul modeled this perspective perhaps better than anyone else. Amid disappointment, heartache, and persecution, he wrote that “our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV).

How could Paul call his experiences “light and momentary”? We know he had a thorn in the flesh, presumed to be with him for the entirety of his life. He was also accustomed to afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, sleepless nights, and hunger.

There’s nothing light or momentary about his circumstances. And there’s nothing that feels light or momentary when we’re addressing seemingly intractable obstacles today.

Paul explains his perspective in 2 Corinthians 4:18, echoing the themes we’ve discussed in Jeremiah 17. He reminds us that we must turn upward to continue pressing onward. A glimpse of God extends our timeline and shifts our perspective.

Jeremiah, like Paul, began his ministry with a glimpse of God. Before he was even 20 years old, God gave Jeremiah a prophetic message of judgment and rebuilding, warning that his own people would fiercely oppose his message. Yet it is precisely this call that carried Jeremiah through.

Over the next 40 years, through the reign of multiple monarchs in the kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah delivered prophetic words to a nation in decline. At God’s command, Jeremiah denounced the nation’s wickedness and its failure to respond to God’s call. The prophet experienced disillusionment as leaders consistently ignored his calls to repentance.

He faced death threats, assaults, imprisonment, slander, and abduction. Yet, in stark contrast to the nation of Judah, he remained faithful to God and His call.

Jeremiah could be faithful through the struggles and pain because God had promised to be faithful to him. He knew that he could trust God’s promised presence despite dire circumstances.

In Lamentations, Jeremiah writes, “The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him” (3:25, ESV). Waiting is expected, but we are invited into an informed hopefulness. This hopefulness is based not on our circumstances but in the reality of God’s character, presence, and promises.

Jesus told His disciples, “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33, NLT). We fall into despair if we focus only on the first half of Jesus’ words. Yet if we focus only on the second half, we fall into unrealistic idealism. Let us hold on to both the pain and the presence—the reality of both our present circumstances and His coming glory.

Wherever challenge meets us, extending our timelines with informed optimism helps us press on. To do so, we need to adjust our expectations of how long and difficult this journey will be. It will be a far more arduous climb than we can imagine. But we can anchor our hope in the reality of God’s eternal presence and promise to be with us, even in the most challenging or discouraging moments.