Awakening Hopeናሙና

Most mornings I wake up with the weight of impossibilities and my inadequacies pushing me deep under the covers. This heaviness is often mixed with reminders of blaring realities I can see of my inabilities and lack. Being the multitasker that I am, my mind wanders quickly to the times I have failed before and mistake after mistake are filed across my mental landscape like an old movie set up for me to review as evidence that should size up my day. Nope. No way can I do what I think I’m called to do. 

And I haven’t even brushed my teeth. 

Call it the Enemy, perfectionism gone bad, or my own conscience, as the writer of Hebrews might agree. The bottom line is that if I just wait around allowing all that garbage to percolate I will literally waste my life, paralyzed in fear, stifled in inhibition. Unmoved. 

No. We cannot fix the problem or awaken the hope within. But neither does God intend we stand there brushing our teeth in presumed failure or indifference. 

What then is the solution? 

Draw near. 

So often we don’t draw near because we have beaten ourselves up too much before we get out of the starting gate. The work IS impossible. We ARE inadequate for the task; which is why we can’t fix it. It’s a circular disaster with a single workable strategy: take your mental mess and emotional abyss to God. You moving closer to the heart of God as He draws you to Himself. That is the only solution. 

Get rid of the pretense. 

He simply asks for our sincerity. This is not the time to practice some artificial ritualistic nonsense. He can see through all that drivel. Bring your whole mistake-ridden, inapt self. But offer it in candor. In our worst postures, He still presses in toward us. 

Come in full confidence of Faith. 

Leave the “I cant’s,” with your toothbrush.

Instead, come near in full confidence that your God hears you; that He will respond on your behalf, and will replace all of that negativity and destruction with His Truth, filling you with overflowing bountifulness of Holy Spirit-imparted hope. Positioning this confidence in the forefront mentally changes the trajectory of your day to impact your world. It’s literally life changing. 

Today, would you simply draw near?