In an election year, it is seems easier than normal to get discouraged; To feel like life is not getting better, but worse.Perhaps it has something to do with all the “uplifting” political commercials we have been watching for the last two years. While many tudents make it through middle school with out a care in the word, we are finding that and increasing amount of students feel stressed, worried, angry and alone. As a Middle School Pastor, I run into discouraged students often. Some face the normal struggle of growing up, but not all. Increasingly many of their life stories are so overwhelming that they hit you like a punch in the gut when you hear them. Students in the suburbs who are starving themselves, cutting themselves, hating themselves, dreading the circumstances of their life, and, even wondering if anyone cares about their suffering. Quietly they ask in the dark, “does God see me... does he care... is he even there?”
Discouragement and disillusionment seem to be everywhere, yet for the Christian, we struggle to cling to hope. Not blind optimism that ignores the true struggle of life, nor pessimism which surrenders to the darkness of despair, but gritty hope that finds a way to believe that God will not abandon us in the dark.
The bible is full of this sort of hope. The Apostle Paul describes the reality of this hope in these terms:
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (2 Cor. 4:8-9)“
Its hard to imagine a worse marketing tag line that that, but the Bible’s honesty rings true. Faith doesn’t promise life won’t be hard, but faith promises God is enough. God can get us through it.
The psalmist describes this faith when he states that
“even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; (Psalm 23:4).”
The valley will come, and it will be dark, but God is with us in the valley. This statement reminds of some of Jesus parting words words, when he tells us that he will be with us always (Matt 28:18). In the midst of our personal periods of darkness, Jesus is described as the light which shines into our depression, fear, abandonment, loneliness, and emptiness.
Hope of this sort can be found. Its authenticity rises above superficiality and platitudes. An authenticity born from the refusal to ignore the pain and struggle, while at the same time clinging to the belief that God hears our cries and he cares about our struggles.
This is the sort of hope so many students today need. Real hope that God’s light can reach the darkest corner of their soul, driving out their fears, and replacing them with love. A hope that God is making all things new, and that one day they will experience a city where there are no shadows of doubt no dark corners of despair. Where Jesus himself is our ever present and constant light.
The needs are great, but so are the opportunities. We have the chance to shine the light for those who need it most.
May we be the ones who carry the torch of grace and love into the darkness that so many face!
