Hope for 2022

12 months ago, people seemed full of anticipation for the new year. We couldn’t wait for the horrors of 2020 to be over. We looked forward to getting back to normal in 2021. We were hopeful of better days ahead.

Fast forward to today. It’s New Year’s Eve and it’s surprisingly quiet. People aren’t prophesying better days to come. I’m not hearing excitement or anticipation of freedom. All I’m hearing is… well I’m not really hearing anything. No optimism, no determination, no great plans, no real hope. The numbers are staggering, the queues are growing, the goal posts are changing, the spin doctors are running out of things to say. The future looks grim, and hope has slipped away.

If that’s how you’re feeling, then we all get it. We’re being confronted with circumstances we can’t control. We thought we had this, but we don’t. We’re not the masters of our own destiny. 

But here’s the thing. We’ve never been in control. We’re always impacted by circumstances. People get sick, they die. It’s always been that way. Nothing has changed. We’ve been living in a fool’s paradise thinking that we can build our utopias and keep ourselves healthy and wealthy and free from worry. Finally, we are getting a reality check.

But there is hope. And it’s very real. It’s not to be found in better circumstances, or by eradicating a virus, rebuilding a stronger economy, regaining freedoms to travel, rediscovering job security, or in any earthly measure. Solid hope is to be found in one place and one place alone. Real hope comes from knowing God, from learning to be content whatever the circumstances, from understanding this life isn’t all there is, and from trusting that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ. 

³⁵ Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? ³⁶ As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;
    we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

³⁷ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If you want to find hope in 2022, then please let God know. He’s waiting on you to call out to him. He will answer your fears and doubts. He will lift your eyes to the matters that matter most. He will secure your future come what may. He doesn’t promise that life will be easy, but he promises to be with you every step of the way.