WS Chronicle

By Bruce Boyer

We are being saturated with bad news every day. In recent weeks it includes the war in the Ukraine and the killing of innocent children and their teachers at a school in Texas. The stock market is threatening to become a Bear Market. We hear of other shootings every night on the news.

The news affects us deeply. We all know teachers who influenced our lives, and many of us have children and grandchildren. We feel deeply for those who were injured or lost their lives in the school shooting. Many of us have friends from the Ukraine, so the devastation is hard for us to watch or hear about.

The combination of factors is deeply affecting our economy. Inflation is rampant, dramatically affecting food prices, the cost of gasoline for our vehicles, and the cost of pandemic-delayed travel, giving us cause for stress. And now, we are hearing about the increased rate of infections caused by variants of the virus.

It is one thing after another. 

The Bible tells us about a time of constant disappointments. In the book of Lamentations, Jeremiah spent 20 verses grumbling to the Lord with his complaints about the bad news of life. But then, the very next word of the very next verse changes everything. It adds perspective to the difficulty he was facing. The next word was “Yet.” It said, “Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have Hope. Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.”

While Jeremiah’s problems seem to come every day, so do God’s blessings. The verse continues: “They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:21- 23). 

Evil exists in the world and it will continue until Jesus Christ comes again. Satan is still at work, trying to destroy the world and turn people away from Jesus Christ.

But God’s love overcomes evil. How does He do this? God works through you and me. We are the “Yet” that brings Hope. We spread God’s love to those around us. Jesus Christ has commissioned us, sending us to do His work. He has sent you and me to be exactly where we are today. The Holy Spirit descends on us and empowers us. Lamentations continues, “The LORD is good to those whose Hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord (Lamentations 3:25-26).

We know that Jesus wins in the end. He defeated sin and death on the cross and resurrection. We know that all believers will join Him in eternal life. And, we know that our job here on earth is to win souls for Christ. Every person who is saved is less likely to be controlled by Satan. We win them over by sharing God’s love. 

We can be a vessel of Hope in this dark world. We can share God’s light to illuminate the path to Him. Every person we lead into a relationship with Jesus Christ may multiply our influence as they spread God’s love to those they know.  

Bruce Boyer is the author of two devotional books and writes a weekly devotional email. A library of his stories is posted on https://christianfaithstories.org/.