We finished reading George Orwell’s 1984 the other day. It had been awhile since we had tackled the book, and Eric and I had stopped at Room 101 because we were afraid we’d have nightmares. But we finally did finish reading the text, then read through the Principles of Newspeak, and finally read some of the Afterword by Erich Fromme to boot.
Here’s how Erich Fromme began:
“George Orwell’s 1984 is the expression of a mood, and it is a warning. The mood it expresses is that of near despair about the future of man, and the warning is that unless the course of history changes, men all over the world will lose their most human qualities, will become soulless automatons, and will not even be aware of it.”
We didn’t read all of the Afterword because it was simply an atheist philosopher commenting on the work of an atheist writer. But the work itself is as he says, a warning – a billboard proclaiming: “Hopelessness and Despair Ahead. Turn back now!”
Orwell himself died of a lung condition in 1949 at age 46, and it appears the mood of hopelessness stayed with him till the end. The book is copyrighted 1949.
I remember the days of Bill Clinton, from Hope, Arkansas. Just even the name of his hometown was a subliminal message that he could put everything to rights. Whatever was wrong with the world could be fixed by Bill Clinton, if he were President of the United States. Well, that didn’t really pan out, and neither did Barack Obama’s promise of “Hope and Change.” In fact, I well remember the Clinton crime family and all the “suicides” of close associates. And I remember the feeling of depression I had when Obama was declared the winner of the election the second time around. Oh yes, there was change -- plenty of that. On Obama’s watch, guys could now marry each other and enjoy unrestricted access to girls’ bathrooms. But we didn’t see much hope in four more years of a Muslim in the Oval Office.
Now, in 2021, under Joe Biden, the national suicide rate is up. We know it is, but it takes a few years before the statistics are compiled and released. Suicide can be the active taking of one’s own life, or maybe it can also be a reckless attitude about preserving it.
People are anxious these days about getting Covid, being isolated from family in lockdowns, wearing masks, losing their jobs or their businesses, suffering from side effects from the jab, not being able to afford gas to even get to work, or not to be able to buy food or Christmas presents, to name but a few of our worries. And there’s every indication that it’s going to get even worse, that 1984 is just a few years off, and that an authoritarian dictatorship is coming to a world crying out for stability.
As a result of all this stress, mental health is a booming business and new mental hospitals are springing up everywhere. Hopelessness happens when people are convinced that their situation will never get any better. Suicide happens when hopelessness hardens into a conclusion that death would be better than continuing on.
What’s a body to do? How shall we then live? What about the famous line in “Great Is Thy Faithfulness”:
“Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow … “
I spoke of the passing of two dear friends last week. So yes, in the last two weeks, we’ve been to two funerals. Some members of our family have been to a third as well – that of a 19-year-old homeschool grad named Emma, who was rear-ended at full speed by a jeep when her car was stopped on the interstate by construction. Emma was never stabilized enough to be able to be transported to the waiting helicopter. But Emma spent her last minutes on Earth speaking to her rescuers of Heaven and how excited she would be to meet her Savior.
Emma had hope. Even in the middle of the pain and suffering she was experiencing, she was able to share that hope with others.
Bob, mentioned last week, had previously battled cancer and won. At his funeral, his daughter Jamie related to us how she had told her dad that the strong faith he exhibited during his bout had deepened her own faith in Jesus. He smiled broadly and said, “Then it was all worth it.” Bob shared his hope for the future with his daughter by how he handled his life in the present.
“Where’d that hope come from?,” you may ask. “Is Emma’s hope available to all of us? Is Bob’s hope in suffering just a matter of a really great personality? Or … can I have that too? And where can I get it?”
Maybe you can find it in the Bible!
Let’s compare Bob’s outlook with Brad’s. Brad’s theology went like this: “We have a blessed hope of Heaven. That means, we can hope and hope and hope that we can get to Heaven, but we just have to do the best we can and see if it’s good enough when we get there.”
Needless to say, this view is not in line with Biblical truth. His kids attended a Vacation Bible School in our front yard one year, but he was angered when we taught his kids that if they prayed a prayer of faith, they would have the blessed assurance that they would be with Jesus someday, in the place He was preparing for us. Brad’s kids weren’t allowed to attend any more of our church functions. I can only hope they retained enough to overcome their dad’s warped theology.
The hope we have in Jesus is not unsure, wishful thinking – it is a solid rock, based on the promises in the Scriptures.
Is our hope in Jesus only for after we die? If so, is suicide a good option? (NOTE: These are rhetorical questions, and the answer to both is NO. Assisted suicide is also not a good option.)
Our hope in Jesus is for every day we spend here on Earth AND for eternity after that.
I have known people who really can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, not even a pinprick of light, where they hope to come out at the other side and find that all is normal again. It seems that’s what all humanity right now is longing for – NORMAL. Some insist that we have to accept a “new normal.” Some are predicting a long, cold winter, hyperinflation, and the unvaxxed getting Covid every 16 months. Where’s the light? Are we in a tunnel or sinking into a bottomless pit?
But what if the tunnel has a bend in it? What if there is light, but you can only see it just before you reach the end of it? And what if the tunnel is not merely a place where your life is on pause, but a place where God has deliberately put you so that you can mature and grow in your faith, where you can learn to trust Him even when you can’t see?
What if you are actually digging your way up and out from the rubble of a fallen house after a tornado or earthquake, but you, in your despair, give up when you are only a few inches from the surface?
I can tell you this. There are only two kinds of people: those who have Jesus and those who don’t have Jesus.
Those who have Jesus have all the promises in His Word, and unlimited help and comfort.
Those who don’t have Jesus have only the power of positive thinking or some other empty philosophy.
Job went through more than anybody I’ve ever known. He lost everything he had except his wife and his life. And through his many monologues in the book that bears his name, he expresses great sorrow and hopelessness at his situation. But in the middle of his sorrows, he utters one of the greatest statements of faith in all the Bible, one that even makes it into Handel’s Messiah:
“Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever!
For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
~Job 19:23-27
By faith, Job foresaw that even if his flesh was totally consumed by disease or worms, he would stand before God his Redeemer, the Christ, in his glorified new flesh! And guess what? His words were written in a book!
These are words of hope, real solid hope. There are many such “hope” verses in the Bible!
Susanna (Haley) Silva
And the Holy Spirit Himself is called “The Comforter,” who was given to us because Jesus had to go back to His Father to prepare our eternal home for us.
When it comes to the death of a loved one who was a believer in Christ (or even my own), there is hope, and that’s why all three of the funerals mentioned were not so much a mourning of their deaths as a celebration of their lives.
“But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus.
“For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep.
For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.
“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.
Therefore comfort one another with these words.”
~1 Thes. 4:13-18
This hope doesn’t look wishy-washy or unsure to me! Every instance of “will” or “shall” in those verses is an absolute promise from God.
Suicide is not a good option because Jesus promised to be with us and we who have hope in Him, are to live out our lives here as a testimony to His faithfulness.
So how should we then live?
By faith,
with perseverance,
and with purity.
“For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
~Romans 8:24-25
“Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”
~1 John 3:2-3
Here we are. God has not taken us home yet. If we are still here, there’s a reason for that.
Because of Jesus, we have our sins forgiven, we have all the promises in His Word, we have the Comforter, we have new bodies and eternal life to come, we have new family members to take the place of any who have left us, … and we have jobs to do on earth, to advance His Kingdom.
This is our Blessed Hope.
And if you don’t have that blessed hope, talk to me in the comments below! You need that!
“Lord Jesus, we thank You for the hope You give us. We need not despair as others do. We will persevere with Your help and trust in Your promises, for You ARE the Light at the end of the tunnel.
It is in Your Holy Name that we pray, Amen.”
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