The Intersection of Brokenness and Hope

Photo by Thanh Thương Fycam

How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death, and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me. Psalm 13 NIV

Every major city has one. Every rural area has one. There are 15.8 million of them in the continental United States, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety report. What is that one? It is an intersection that can turn into a nightmare at a minute’s notice. There is one intersection that we want to avoid at all costs, even though we know that there are no viable options. We may live in a rural area and think we are safe; unfortunately, though the rural area represents 18% of the population, it accounts for 36% of the deadliest intersections. (Fang Law Firm)

If you have lived, been to, or visited Peachtree City, Georgia, you know that one intersection is 54/74; many of us have spent a thoughtful moment or two sitting there waiting to get through it! I assumed it would be number one on the list when I started writing this blog. However, it doesn’t even rank in the top tier of worst intersections. You know why? It’s not really that bad after all, since I have only had to sit for maybe a maximum of 15 minutes. What made it the worst? It’s the one I go through frequently.

You have your own intersections, maybe not in traffic, but in life. The intersection of brokenness and hope impacts every one of us in life, often every day. Since my last week’s blog post, a prominent activist voice was silenced by an assassin’s bullet, a young Ukrainian refugee was brutally stabbed on her way home from her Charlotte job, and a 16-year-old student carried a revolver and ammunition into the Evergreen High School and randomly started shooting students.

Charlie Kirk, Iryna Zarutska, and two high school students’ paths converged at the intersection of brokenness and hope. The junction of brokenness is devastating and almost impossible to get through. If we only followed the news stories, we would think that brokenness and devastation were the only intersecting roads. When Charlie Kirk was asked in an interview, “How do you want to be remembered?” Kirk answered, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith, that would be the most important thing. The most important thing is my faith in my life.”

The intersection of devastation seemed to be the only road, yet during this same timeframe of devastation, I couldn’t miss the incoming flow of hope at the same intersection. We have a good friend who was able to ring the bell at the City of Hope Cancer Center. Around the world, there were thousands of people gathered in over 1,700 Prayer Rooms as part of the Global Week of Prayer to pray for the nations, communities, and leaders. I found hope even in the small joys of life, such as my grandkids going to the zoo.

I don’t mind coming to the intersection when I am driving on Hope, but brokenness is not where I want to be. Yet it is often at that intersection that I have come to understand more fully God’s love for me. Oswald Chambers said it well, “God takes you through a way that you temporarily do not understand. And it is only by going through the spiritual confusion that you will come to the understanding of what God wants for you.”

Peter in his opening remarks to the church in exile wrote, “To God’s elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.” (I Peter 1:1-2 NIV)

Izwe Nkosi commented on this passage about the contradiction of exile and elect in a recent Lectio podcast. Nkosi said, “I notice the contradiction in the lives of the community Peter is addressing—they are ‘elect’, but also ‘exiles”. Chosen by God, but living fragile, displaced lives. Being chosen by God doesn’t mean my life will be easy, or that everything will feel blessed and wonderful all the time. But this place of contradiction—living between the promise and the sometimes tough reality of life—is precisely the place where the Triune God is forming me so that, wherever I am, I will still know “grace and peace…in abundance.”

Life happens!  All of us will find ourselves at some intersection of brokenness and hope at some point. What will you do when you enter that intersection? Our life of faith may find us struggling for answers. It is easy to doubt the goodness of God when we find ourselves on the road of devastation; however, at that intersection is where we will discover God most present.

Out of the darkest valley, David was able to write, “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

God, would you remind me moment by moment today, however I am feeling about myself or my life situation, that I am known and loved by You, and that right now, I am in the process of being formed and transformed by the Trinity, working in action together.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NIV)

God is great!