Every Reason to Hope

There is an old story about a poor but faithful woman who lived next door to an angry atheist. Often the atheist would give her a hard time, “Lady, you are crazy, praying like that all the time! You’re just wasting your time going to church. Don’t you know that there is no God?” But the woman stayed faithful.

One day, the woman ran out of groceries. As was her custom, she sat out on her front porch and prayed out loud, explaining her situation to God. When the atheist overheard her prayer, he thought to himself, “Humph…I’ll show her.”

He went to the grocery store, bought a whole bunch of food, took it to her house, and left it sitting on the front porch. He then rang the doorbell and then hid in the bushes to see what she would do. When the woman opened the door and saw the groceries, she began to praise the Lord with all her heart, singing and shouting!

The atheist then jumped out of the bushes and exclaimed, “You crazy old lady. God didn’t buy you those groceries, I bought those groceries!” Upon hearing that, the woman began praising God all the more. Then the turned to her neighbor and responded, “I knew the Lord would provide food, but I just didn’t know he was going to make the devil pay for it!”

The story is funny – but the point is well taken. God can and will work through anyone!

Sometimes it is hard to have hope because we can’t believe that there could possibly be an answer to our prayers. We can’t imagine how things will ever resolve or work out. Being human, our vision and understanding are limited. But at the very heart of our faith stands the God who makes a way – even when there is no way.

Let us pray: Eternal God, from the feeding trough of a stable, you raised up for us a Savior. From the sealed tomb, you brought forth new life and new possibility. Help us to trust that you will make a way today – even for us. Amen.