God Never Ceases to Hope in You!

Posted: 02 Jun 2009 09:00 PM PDT

Tobit 3:1-11,16-17 / Mk 12:18-27

Life is a remarkable, irreplaceable gift. Only God can give it; only God can extend it even for a second. Yet at times we take the gift for granted and fail to appreciate its full worth. With far too great an ease, we may well find ourselves saying things like, “I wish I were dead,” or “There’s nothing more to live for.”

As we discovered in today’s Old Testament reading, poor Tobit reached that point after four years of blindness and its attendant feelings of powerlessness, and after seeing himself and his failures of love and faith a good bit more clearly than he might have liked. Poor Tobit despaired of life and of himself.

But the Lord was not willing to let that judgment stand, for he still saw the goodness that Tobit himself had ceased to see in his life and in his own soul. The Lord saw it all and he continued to hope in it. And in his good time he would help Tobit to see it too.

When those dark days come to you, as inevitably they do to us all, step outside yourself and see what the Lord sees — in you, around you, and in your future. Trust his vision, and walk with him out of the darkness and into the light.