A man was wrongly accused, and the king condemned him to life imprisonment. From prison, he continued to write to the king and insisted on his innocence. He pleaded with him each time he wrote to review his case. Several years passed and the king did not rescind his judgment. However, the king was not silent on the matter but needed evidence to prove his innocence. One day, evidence surfaced and showed clearly that the man was truly innocent. The king wrote a letter of his release immediately and sent it to the prison warden. When the warden got the letter, he ran happily to the prisoner to announce his freedom but unfortunately, he found him hanging from the roof of his cell. He committed suicide a few minutes before the letter came.
In adversity, according to Martin Luther King (jr.), “we should accept finite disappointments but must not lose infinite hope.” We should rather wait for the consolation, which the Lord promises in the first reading of today. This consolation will benefit but only the afflicted, who wait patiently in hope, trusting the faithfulness of their God. For those who despair and throw in the towel, there will be no consolation. For those who go down into the grave, they cannot hope for God’s faithfulness (Is. 38:18). Even if “the earth gives way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam” (Ps. 46: 2-3), be scared but not afraid. Keep waiting upon the Lord for the promised consolation. For “He who calls you is faithful, and He will do it” (1 Thes. 5:24).
Captivity
The prophetic proclamation, “console my people, console them,” is God’s message of love to the people of Judah and the royal house of David, who have been in captivity under the king of Babylon. The captivity humiliated them and made a mockery of the crown of the great Davidic kingdom. The people of Judah were subjected to a harsh period of servitude and misery. Though they were responsible for their fate through their unfaithfulness to their covenant with God, the Lord remained faithful, “for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). He remembered His covenant and promised them redemption.
There could be such moments of misery and seeming hopelessness in anyone’s life, even when one may not have broken one’s covenant with God. It is usually a period of great trial. Only those who have learnt to ride on the wings of faith, sustained by hope, can survive this dark hour. Such know that they can only “stumble but never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand” (Ps. 36: 24).
Waiting
Waiting upon the Lord in periods of tribulation can be very challenging. This is because we do not know when He will arrive or how long we must wait. While waiting, there could even arise doubts as to whether He would come. One could equally hear voices in one’s head, challenging the logic of faith in the faithfulness of God. These murmuring voices can paint scary scenarios of what would be the case, if our hope in the Lord fails us and suggest we take some other cause of action, which may not be in accord with our covenant with the Lord, to escape the trying moment. At this point, we must recall the words of the Psalmist: “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread” (Ps. 37:25).
The Lord is eternally faithful. If he has promised to send help, he will not fail. We have, therefore, reasons to keep hoping for his intervention. Desmond Tutu would say, “hope is being able to see that there is light despite all the darkness“. Only such hope can sustain us until the dawn of heaven‘s visitation.
