Hope To Cope: Complaint Department - 3/30/25

“God is the presence that spares us from nothing, even as God unexplainably sustains us in all things,”
—James Finley

“At that time some Pharisees came and told him, “Go, get out of here. Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go tell that fox, ‘Look, I’m driving out demons and performing healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will complete my work.’ Yet it is necessary that I travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem.”
—Luke 13:31–33, CSB

““Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! See, your house is abandoned to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’!””
—Luke 13:34–35, CSB

“LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night. May my prayer reach your presence; listen to my cry. For I have had enough troubles, and my life is near Sheol. I am counted among those going down to the Pit. I am like a man without strength, abandoned among the dead. I am like the slain lying in the grave, whom you no longer remember, and who are cut off from your care.”
—Psalm 88:1–5, CSB

“You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit, in the darkest places, in the depths. Your wrath weighs heavily on me; you have overwhelmed me with all your waves. Selah You have distanced my friends from me; you have made me repulsive to them. I am shut in and cannot go out. My eyes are worn out from crying. LORD, I cry out to you all day long; I spread out my hands to you. Do you work wonders for the dead? Do departed spirits rise up to praise you? Selah Will your faithful love be declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Abaddon? Will your wonders be known in the darkness or your righteousness in the land of oblivion? But I call to you for help, LORD; in the morning my prayer meets you. LORD, why do you reject me? Why do you hide your face from me? From my youth, I have been suffering and near death. I suffer your horrors; I am desperate. Your wrath sweeps over me; your terrors destroy me. They surround me like water all day long; they close in on me from every side. You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me; darkness is my only friend.”
—Psalm 88:6–18, CSB

God doesn’t expect us to tough it out but to trust in Him.

When hope is all we have we will find that it’s all we need.