I just finished Waiting for Hope, a study on the book of Malachi. I love the title of this study so much. The people that Malachi wrote to during the time of this book didn’t know what was coming; they didn’t know that they were about to enter a period of four hundred years of silence from God. Once again, God was going to ask his people to wait. This is the last message they will receive for a long time. I think that makes us give this book special attention.

God’s Last Words

What did God have to say in His last words to His people before He would send His son into the world? The first words from God in Malachi are these, “I have loved you.” He reminds them of His love. In the days to come, they would feel that God was so very far away. Yet, He leaves them this powerful reminder that He loves them.

Sometimes God asks us to wait for hope during different seasons of our lives. It’s during these times that we feel God is so very far away. We feel like we are alone. Eugene Peterson calls these “wilderness times.” We all go through them, and so did so many of our favorite people from the Bible. David, Elijah, Moses, and even Jesus. Wilderness times are times of testing and discouragement, a contrast between hope and faith and doubt and fear. It’s during these times that our faith can be strengthened if we allow it to be.

David’s Wilderness Years

It’s during these wilderness times that we learn to see the beauty of the wilderness and of what God’s doing. Eugene Peterson writes about David’s wilderness times in his book, Leap Over a Wall.

The wilderness taught David to see beauty everywhere. The wilderness was David’s school in the preciousness of life; through wilderness testing David learned to see God in places and things he never would have thought to look previously.

In the wilderness years, as David was dealing with God, a sense of the sacred developed in him. While he was living in that austere country, his awareness of holiness, of God’s beauty and presence in everything, in everyone, increased exponentially.

Wilderness Times

God takes us all through wilderness times. They look different for all of us, and yet, it’s in these wilderness times that we can draw close to God. We can see the beauty of the wilderness times when we choose to walk through that time with peace and hope, hope of the good to come. We can find peace and beauty in the wilderness times instead of just wishing for an escape.

I don’t know what season of life you’re in today, but if it’s a wilderness season, I’m here to encourage you to hold on to hope. God’s not done with you. Your story’s not over. Look for the beauty right where you are. Choose to hold on to hope and find joy right where you are. Soon this season will be over and with it the opportunity to find the beauty in this season. Don’t miss what God’s trying to show you during this time.

More Encouragement

For more encouragement, check out my post, Hope in the Midst of Suffering.