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Processing the unexpected – there’s more to hope than just heads or tails 

Matthew 14:12-14 (NIV) John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

Unexpected things come into your world all the time. Things happen that you never thought would. So, when the unexpected occurs, how does it affect your hope?

Let’s look at Jesus, our ultimate example. In Matthew 14, Herod gives the order for Jesus’ cousin – John the Baptist – to be beheaded. Take a minute to read the whole chapter yourself. 

You know, we think of Jesus as God, but don’t forget that He came as a man. When He got the awful news about John – His cousin, the one who baptized him, the one who prophesied about His ministry – He needed a bit of time to process. Off to a deserted place He goes, grieving, not able to get His natural head around it. 

Then people hear that Jesus is there, and they begin to come. He’s grieving, and He wants to be alone. But they’re sick, so He gets to work. Healing after healing after healing. By the end of the day, there are five thousand men. Plus women and children. And then He turns around and feeds them all from just five loaves of bread and two fish. 

We often read about the miracle of the five thousand in isolation, without remembering what happened immediately beforehand – the tragic loss that Jesus had just suffered. But when I look at it, I think, ‘Man, He had to process something pretty quickly.’

One day several years ago, I was looking at a coin. I had always believed that every coin has two sides: heads and tails. At the time, I also thought of life as being a little bit like a coin. You flick it up, and you don’t know where it’s going to fall. Heads, you win. Tails, you lose. At least, that’s how I used to think. ‘Well, that’s life. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.’ 

Then, I sensed that there was more to a coin than that. In fact, depending on how you look at it, a coin has more than two sides. You could say that there are three, because there’s the edge that joins the two main sides. An Australian fifty-cent coin, rather than being circular, has actually got twelve faces on its edge, making fourteen sides in total. You see, our perspective can make all the difference. 

I don’t know what you’ve gone through, but I can tell you this. If you don’t process the unexpected, your hope is going to be chopped in two. When something doesn’t go your way, don’t give up for good just because whatever it was ‘landed on tails’. 

Pick up the coin again. Realize that, if you can process the unexpected, you can live on another face of the coin. Your coin can run on its edge, gather momentum, and go to places that you can’t get to if your perspective is limited to simply ‘up’ or ‘down’. 

Resolved today to ‘stand on the edge’ of the coin. When the unexpected comes your way, don’t stop, don’t give in. Take time to process. Shift your perspective. Allow hope in God to take you to another level. 

We hope you’ve enjoyed this reading plan. Click here to learn more about the book Now Hope by Paul de Jong.