Still running for the bus

I was late leaving the house this week, and though I ran at points I was still a distance from the bus stop when I saw the bus driving up. I was not yet late, but the bus was early. I broke my ankle a while ago and it is still not right, and therefore I was not quite quick enough. I did run for the bus, but it drove off just as I got to the back of it.

I was discussing this with a colleague at work and he told me that he no longer ran for the bus. He had run too many times and it seemed like the bus drivers took a perverse pleasure from driving off just as he was almost in reach.

It struck me as an image of lost hope and disappointment.

Bill Clinton famously said, "I still believe in a place called hope." (well he was born there), but sometimes it is difficult to hope.

People talk about clinging onto hope, but the image that we have of hope from the Bible is of something far more certain.

1 Cor 13v7 says about love "It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." (NIV)

The passage later states, v13 "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." (NIV)

Do we have a hope that remains?

There are other famous passages on hope,

Psalm 25

3 No one whose hope is in you
will ever be put to shame,
but they will be put to shame
who are treacherous without excuse. (NIV)

Great as a promise but what exactly does it mean?

Psalm 62 provides an incredible image.

3 How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?

4 They fully intend to topple him
from his lofty place;
they take delight in lies.
With their mouths they bless,
but in their hearts they curse.
Selah

5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;
my hope comes from him.

6 He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. (NIV)

Man is shown as a leaning wall, as a tottering fence. That does not sound like a very hopeful image. Leaning walls and tottering fences have a tendency to fall down.

David though refers to God as my rock, my salvation and my fortress. Those are all images of strength and images of hope.

Hope in itself is not the issue. If I put my hope in the things of this world then I am looking for trouble. If I hope that I will get the bus then too many times I will end up being disappointed.

If my hope is in God then I will never be disappointed.

We can give great rhetoric about how we should not lose hope, about how we should always keep running for that bus, always keep believing. My friend is being quite sensible though, don't put your hope in something that is going to disappoint you. Buses and bus drivers are not great things to put your hope in.

There is and there has to be something more. Don't put your hope in the number 20 bus, put it in your rock, your salvation and your fortress.

Don't place your hope in buses, place your hope in God.