2020 has been a year of wondering where the hope is. I know in our own way, all of us have suffered under this year. And while some have experienced the worst of this year, more personally, I think we are all wondering where the hope is. Most of Micah’s book expresses how God is coming to punish the nations for hurt they have caused their own people, yet it does not mean that people who were already down won’t be affected by this. In the verses today, hope is mixed with pain. The “daughter of Zion” will go through pains like labor before God comes to redeem her.
Being a historian, you often see how rare it is for good to happen. Most of the time, that good does not happen without a long and painful struggle. Yet, you must admire the people who, despite the odds, can see the hope and keep going. Earlier this year, an exhibit I had been working on finally went up (and was unseen for months due to COVID). It focused on some women from our service district who helped shaped history. Looking at them, it gave me some hope for this year. There are women in the exhibit who stood up for what was right and just, who stepped in the places that were considered to be for men only, or who worked to preserve their culture even though for generations, those in power tried to take it from them.
When I first read these verses, I wondered where the hope was. But then I read them again and I could start to see it. I could start to see the hope; a reminder from God that there is pain, there is suffering, but there is always hope.
Prayer:
God who is hope for the hopeless, give us eyes to see your goodness and strength to keep moving into the vision you have for us all - a world filled with equity and justice, with love and joy. Amen.
