Thursday, February 20, 2020

Despairing hope

Suppose the only son of a widowed mother goes off to war. She no longer has his protection, assistance, or companionship. She doesn't know when or if she will see him again. She doesn't know when or if he will return. All she can do is wait and pray for his return. 

Maybe one day, years later, as she sits on the porch or looks through the kitchen window, she sees a familiar figure limping towards the house. All the prayer, suffering, loneliness, heartache, and waiting were worth it. Even if he's no long 100%, it's more than worth it to have him back, to be reunited. 

But suppose she waits and waits until the war is over, yet he never comes back. She presumes that he died. If he survived, he should have returned by now. Hope fades. It's too late to hold out hope. 

Yet even though she waited in vain, he was still worth waiting for. It's not as if she had anything better to wait for or pray for. If she never sees him again, holding out for him was the right thing to do–even in retrospect. It's not like she had a better life waiting for her if she gave up on him. It's not like she put a wonderful life on hold. If she says good-bye, what's facing her when she turns around? There's nothing to go back to. So even with the benefit of bitter hindsight, she'd do the same thing all over again. 

Suppose she knew that she'd never see him again. Was it still worth the wait? That seems irrational. But what's the alternative? It's not like she's passing on better offers. It's not like she's passing up better opportunities. It's him or nothing. There's a sense in which clinging to a vain hope is better than no hope at all. 

Even if, for the sake of argument, Christianity is false, it's better to hope in vain and wait and vain and pray in vain for the only thing that could be good, without which nothing else is good, than settle for what is worthless and amoral. If that's the dilemma, then even despairing hope is better than hopeless despair. 

And that's the worse case scenario. A limiting case. Sometimes it's useful to begin with the worst, then work back from that, since anything is better than that. If you can adjust to that, you have nothing left to lose and everything to gain. If it can't get any worse, it can only get better. Sometimes, when you have nothing more to lose, that's the turning-point. 

7 comments:

  1. Steve, very well said - My daughter died on the 19th at 35 yrs of age. I'm heart-sick but I have no other choice to trust & believe in Jesus & God. It is the only way I will see her again. So here I have to echo Job and say that 'even if He slays me, I will still trust in Him". If I were to chose any other outlook, I might as well go thru myself in frnot of a bus. Sorry for sharing personal info but I mean it as a testimony to the firm truth of your article

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    1. Hi jttayler,

      I just wanted to say how very, very sorry I am to hear your daughter passed away only a few days ago. I can't even imagine what you're going through. I can't imagine anything worse a parent could face. All I know how to offer is my prayers for you and your family.

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    2. Thanks for sharing that, Taylor

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    3. Thank you both for your prayers and wishes and Coreysan below as well. If I may ask, I would ask for prayers for myself to glorify God in all this. I'm so grateful that I have His love and faithfulness to rely upon rather than my own. Please also pray for my 2 grand-daughters, Kayli (12 yrs) & Eris (10 yrs)

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    4. Thanks, jttayler, I'll do that. If there's anything you think I can help with, please don't hesitate to contact me.

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  2. Jttayler. Wow. I'm so sorry. I pray God comforts you.

    I love this discussion. I have often asked myself, what if my eternal hope is in vain? I conclude that scripture explains life accurately, therefore I will live in obedience to that even if there's no afterlife.

    It reminds me of the power of Scripture.

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