HOPE CHEST

“Thus the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his earlier ones.” –Job 42:12

Job is known for his patience, but he should be better known for his hope. If your ten children died in one day, would you have hope? (see Jb 1:19) If you went bankrupt on the same day, would you let God give you the virtue of hope? (see Jb 1:14ff) If you were diseased and racked with pain, would you be hopeful? (see Jb 2:7) Some of us would be like Job’s wife and “curse God and die” (Jb 2:9). However, Job, with no help from his wife and his friends, had hope.

“Hoping against hope” (see Rm 4:18), Job had ten more children (Jb 42:13). His three daughters were the most beautiful women in all the land (Jb 42:15). Moreover, God made him twice as rich as before (Jb 42:10). “Hope will not leave us disappointed” (Rm 5:5).

What about the many people who hope in the Lord but die without the blessings given to Job in his later days? Did these people hope in vain? No! Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life (Jn 11:25). Death does not dash our hopes; instead, it leads to the fulfillment of every hope for those who have hoped in Christ. “They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (Is 40:31).

PRAYER: Father, give me hope, especially in the midst of the worst circumstances in my life.
PROMISE: “Blest are the eyes that see what you see. I tell you, many prophets and kings wished to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.” –Lk 10:23-24
PRAISE: St. Bruno founded the first Carthusian monastery, and was appointed advisor on the reform of the clergy to Pope Urban.