God Ain't Dead Yet

I am not what you would call an expert in art appreciation, probably because I don’t know a lot about it. And so, I’m sure that it comes as no great surprise that you are not likely to find me spending an afternoon in an art gallery. It always amazes me how people can sit and stare at a picture that doesn’t seem to be about anything but then proclaim it to be a masterpiece that is priceless.

However, from time to time a painting or picture will really speak a clear, strong message to me. Once such picture was a picture of an old burned out mountain shack. All that remained was the chimney. That chimney and the charred debris that lay strewn around was all that was left of what had been a family's sole possession. In front of this destroyed home stood an old man that looked like a grandfather, dressed only in his underclothes with a small boy beside him clutching a pair of patched overalls. It was evident that the child was crying.

Beneath the picture were the words which the artist felt the old man was speaking to the boy. They were simple words, yet they presented a profound theology and philosophy of life. Those words were, "Hush child, God ain't dead!" That vivid picture of that burned out mountain shack, that old man, the weeping child, and those words "God ain't dead" keep returning to my mind. Instead of it being a reminder of the despair of life, it is a reminder of hope!

So often in our lives we come upon crisis, challenges and difficulties that leave us feeling that we are spiraling out of control. We don’t see things getting better nor do we see any possibility of them getting better. It may be over a family problem. It may be over health issues or financial circumstances. It could be about employment or any number of things. One thing is certain…. things look hopeless.

A man by the name of G.K. Chesterton once said, “Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue at all .... As long as things are really hopeful, hope is mere flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that hope begins to be a strength.”

One day a man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, “Eighteen to nothing .... we're behind.” “Boy,” said the spectator, “I'll bet you're discouraged.” “Why should I be discouraged?” replied the little boy. “We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!”

I need to more remember that there is hope in this world. In the midst of all of life's troubles and failures, l need to paint those mental pictures that remind me that all is not lost as long as God is in love with me and in control of His world. As someone so wisely has pointed out, there are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them. And so it has occurred to me after a really crummy day yesterday that learning to live loved is about learning to better deal with discouragement. It's going to come. I may as well get ready for it but the great thing is I get to choose how I respond.