The Thought of No Hope

by Pastor Chris Keeton


Christmas is fast approaching, and you know what that means. No, I don’t mean nativity scenes, decorated trees, stock­ings and presents. I’m not even speaking of carolers, peace on earth nor goodwill toward men. Instead I refer to that time-honored tradition of pre-holiday layoffs. Living in a town declining in population, opportunities and income, combined with the cur­rent economic crises, it is very easy to become discouraged. Some of the largest employers in the area have, in recent years,moved, reorganized, cut back, or simply closed up shop altogether.

Most recently this week came the news of AK Steel choosing to “hot idle” the plant in our town, meaning that the layoffs may be temporary and that things can more easily get back up and running in the future. Right now the plan is a two-month shut­down, but only the future will tell. At one time, when my grandfather worked for “the mill,” it employed over 5,000 workers. Now, the total is more like 1,100, in various positions and locations. Of the 700 or so union workers at the main plant, word has it that around 650 of them will be laid off indefinitely. This, then, carries over to other businesses in the area, and many others have al­ready announced their own plans for layoffs. Merry Christmas to one and all.

This special edition of Soulscape, though, isn’t so much about the layoffs themselves, but about the response generated by the circumstances. On our local news channel’s website, many people have been leaving comments on the story, and so many of them have referenced the Lord seeing people through. As I glanced at the numerous comments, my eyes were drawn to one in particular. I want to share that response with you. It is a reply to an earlier message someone posted to keep trusting in God through these most difficult times.

“This is a comment to [someone who posted earlier] who says to look to God. Well, do you have a job? Will God put food on our table, pay our bills, keep a roof over our heads, and help us with our special needs child? You should be ashamed of yourself talking to us like everything will be okay. Maybe you have faith, but some of us live in the real world and know that God does not pay the bills. How do you tell a special needs child that Santa won’t be here this Christmas?”

To me, this comment is sad on so many levels. Many of my readers will agree with me on the point I’m about to make, but some people might truly believe it to be the ravings of a religious zealot, a preacher whose livelihood depends on such naïveté and deception of the weak-minded. But I can attest to the truth that, yes, God has put food on my table, He has paid my bills, He has kept a roof over my family’s heads, and while I don’t have a special needs child, I do have two young children who have been watched over and cared for in ways I could never hope to do myself.

This is not to say that I’ve come into my house and dinner has magically appeared on my table. This is not to say that I have sat back and done nothing and money just appears in my bank account to take care of every dime of bills I have, or any­thing else. But there have been times that, apart from the intervention of God, I would not have been able to make it. I won’t even talk about physical health, as that could take up several issues of Soulscape, but I speak of those times when I didn’t know what was going to happen next, or how we were going to make it.

Many has been the time that there was more month left at the end of the money. There have been countless instances where, through no ability or resources of my own, the Lord has stepped in and worked in ways that only He could. The miracles He has performed in my life, while in some instances different from those we read about in Scripture, are no less miraculous.The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Thessalonians, spoke words of reassurance to those who would face the greatest en­emy: death. He said that he wrote concerning death, so that the believer would not worry or be burdened like those who have “no hope.”

Those who don’t know Christ can never know, can never understand the faith with which the believer lives his or her life.When things have been beyond all human or earthly hope, I have known beyond doubt that the Lord would make a way. Many see the believer, any believer, as one who lives up to the words of Romans 16:18, thinking that we are serving our “own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.” But it is actually the world who is serving their own bellies, concerning themselves with the temporary things of this life. Yes, food and shelter are vital. A stack of presents under a tree are less so, but they are important in their way. Still, God cares for us, and if we will trust in Him and remain faithful to do our part, we can KNOW He will be there with us and WILL see us through.

The god of the world is a person’s belly, their appetites, their desires, with little notice of all that God has done, all the blessings He has allowed to rain down upon the just and the unjust alike. We must remember the words that were given to us in the book of 1 Corinthians 6:13 — Foods for the stomach and the stomach for the foods, but God will destroy both it and them... Everything in this life is for a moment, both the joys and pains. The only thing that is forever is the Lord. If we know Him, then He knows us, and has promised to be with us, to never forsake us. That includes those moments when we don’t know what tomor­row will bring.

It is true that tomorrow might not be like we’d planned or hoped, but that does not mean we’re alone. The thought of living in a world without Christ, the thought of no hope, is almost too terrible to contemplate. And it breaks my heart, as it should break the heart of every believer, that there are people in our world, in our own community, in our own families and homes who exist each day bereft of this hope and peace. I say “exist,” because without God in our heart, that is the extent; without the Lord, one exists, but with the Lord, one truly lives.

When we think of those dark periods in history, those times of greatest peril, those times of great persecution and times before Jesus came among us, we shudder and we are grateful for what we have. But we need to open our eyes to that darkness again, because it hasn’t gone away. Many people, like the one who left such a hopeless comment, don’t have the light of the Lord within them to give them the peace they need to see them through. We who have that light must do better to shine it out into the darkness, to polish the mirror of our life to reflect the glory of the Lord much greater than we already do. There is too much at stake for us to shirk from our responsibility in this hour.

And it goes far beyond the loss of a job or a lack of Christmas gifts. It’s about the souls of those around us. It is up to us who believe, those of us who have the faith, to share the faith, and to live in that faith more and more. People are depending on you and me, even if they don’t realize it yet. Let’s not let them down.


(To subscribe to Chris Keeton's newsletter, email him at soulscapeblog@gmail.com )