The Door of Hope

By: Dr. Jimmy Young      

Somebody once said something like this (how’s that for ambiguity?):  “Man can live for three weeks without food, three days without water, and three minutes without air, but he can’t live fifteen seconds without hope.”  Granted, that may not be the exact quote, but you get the point: When and if you lose hope, you’re a goner.

That’s why I love the whole idea of repentance… every piece of it.  Mind you, I didn’t say penance.  Don’t get those two things confused.  I see hope and repentance as joined at the hip.

A great illustration of that can be found in Ezra 10.  Here’s the story.  Israel had done it again - they had sinned by marrying foreign women.  Once discovered, Ezra, the priest, is beside himself.  He prays (in chapter 9), and when the people overhear him, they too are overcome.  A guy by the name of Shecaniah steps up (in vs. 2) and agrees with Ezra that the people have “blown it.”  But then notice what he goes on to say:  “…but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this.”  In the following three verses, Shecaniah outlines what must be done.  Israel must repent by putting away the foreign women.

Their hope lies in their repentance.  That’s what repentance does… it gives me a fresh start.  Consequences (of my sin) may still await me.  But my sin is done, and hope is restored.  Repentance is not an ugly word; it is a door of hope.