Our bones are dried up. Our hope is gone. We're finished.
EZEKIEL 37:11 · BSB
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
When it feels hopeless
People who ran out of hope, and what happened next.
When you've run out · Saying it out loud · Someone came · Then it turns · Still in the storm · Morning
1When you've run out
Some of them got right to the end of themselves, and said so.
The storm won’t stop. I’ll say it plainly. We’ve given up any hope of getting out of this alive.
ACTS 27:20 · BSB
When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days and the great storm continued to batter us, we abandoned all hope of being saved.
Replying to @luke
Nobody’s eaten for days. What’s the point.
ACTS 27:21 · BSB
After the men had gone a long time without food, Paul stood up among them and said, “Men, you should have followed my advice not to sail from Crete. Then you would have averted this disaster and loss.
Wait. Is that Naomi? The whole town's talking.
RUTH 1:19 · BSB
So Naomi and Ruth traveled until they came to Bethlehem. When they entered Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women of the town exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
Replying to @bethlehem.women
Don't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Bitter. I left full, and the LORD's brought me back empty.
RUTH 1:20–21 · BSB
“Do not call me Naomi,” she replied. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has dealt quite bitterly with me. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”
A day’s walk into the desert. Sat down under a broom tree. I’ve had enough, LORD. Take my life. I’m no better than my ancestors.
1 KINGS 19:4 · BSB
while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
I lie down and think: when will it be morning? The night drags on and I toss and turn till dawn. My days go faster than a weaver’s shuttle, and they’re running out with no hope.
JOB 7:4; JOB 7:6 · BSB
When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
Worn out from groaning. Every night my bed's soaked with tears.
PSALM 6:6 · BSB
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
2Saying it out loud
Nobody here pretends. They take the worst of it straight to God.
As a deer pants for streams of water, that's how I long for you, God. When can I go and stand in front of him?
PSALM 42:1–2 · BSB
For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, the living God. When shall I come and appear in God’s presence?
Replying to @sonsofkorah
Tears are all I've had to eat, day and night. And people keep asking, “So where's your God?”
PSALM 42:3 · BSB
My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
Put my tears in your bottle, God. Aren't they in your book?
PSALM 56:8 · BSB
You have taken account of my wanderings. Put my tears in Your bottle—are they not in Your book?
Even now my witness is in heaven. My friends mock me, while my eyes pour out tears to God.
JOB 16:19–20 · BSB
Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high. My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
Up all night with it. Will the Lord reject us for ever? Has his love run out? Has God forgotten how to be kind?
PSALM 77:4; PSALM 77:7–9 · BSB
You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak. “Will the Lord spurn us forever and never show His favor again? Is His loving devotion gone forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has His anger shut off His compassion?” Selah
Replying to @asaph
So I'm going to remember what he did. All of it.
PSALM 77:11 · BSB
I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.
3Someone came
It often starts small. Bread by your head. A voice on a sinking ship.
Fell asleep under the tree. Someone touched me. An angel. Get up and eat, he said. By my head: bread baked on hot coals, and a jar of water. Ate. Drank. Lay back down.
1 KINGS 19:5–6 · BSB
Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.” And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.
Replying to @elijah.tishbite
He came back and touched me again. Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.
1 KINGS 19:7 · BSB
A second time the angel of the LORD returned and touched him, saying, “Get up and eat, or the journey will be too much for you.”
You are the God who sees me.
GENESIS 16:13 · BSB
So Hagar gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Here I have seen the One who sees me!”
Last night an angel of the God I belong to and serve stood next to me. He said: “Don’t be afraid, Paul.” I have to stand before Caesar. And God has given me the lives of everyone sailing with me.
ACTS 27:23–24 · BSB
For just last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar. And look, God has granted you the lives of all who sail with you.’
Replying to @paul
An angel. On this ship. Last night.
ACTS 27:23 · BSB
For just last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
Prayed from inside the fish. Thrown into the deep. The current swirling round me, the waves breaking over me, seaweed wrapped round my head. I went down to the roots of the mountains and thought I'd been thrown out of his sight for good. As my life was slipping away, I remembered the LORD. And he heard me. Salvation comes from the LORD.
JONAH 2:1–7; JONAH 2:9 · BSB
From inside the fish, Jonah prayed to the LORD his God, saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice. For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the current swirled about me; all Your breakers and waves swept over me. At this, I said, ‘I have been banished from Your sight; yet I will look once more toward Your holy temple.’ The waters engulfed me to take my life; the watery depths closed around me; the seaweed wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God! As my life was fading away, I remembered the LORD. My prayer went up to You, to Your holy temple. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to You. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD!”
And I’m not the only one left. The LORD says he’s kept seven thousand in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal, never kissed him.
1 KINGS 19:18 · BSB
Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
Replying to @elijah.tishbite
Seven thousand.
1 KINGS 19:18 · BSB
Nevertheless, I have reserved seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
4Then it turns
Nothing had changed yet. They started remembering, and he started talking.
I’m the one who has seen it. He’s driven me into the dark. My strength is gone, and so is my hope from the LORD.
LAMENTATIONS 3:1–2; LAMENTATIONS 3:18 · BSB
I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of God’s wrath. He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light. So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
Replying to @lamentations
But there’s one thing I keep coming back to, and it gives me hope.
LAMENTATIONS 3:21 · BSB
Yet I call this to mind, and therefore I have hope:
Replying to @david
And then it turns. He didn't look away from the one who was suffering. When he cried out, God heard.
PSALM 22:24 · BSB
For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.
These bones are the whole people of Israel. They're saying their bones are dry and their hope is gone. The Lord GOD says: my people, I'm going to open your graves and bring you up out of them, and bring you home to the land of Israel. I'll put my Spirit in you, and you'll live.
Another exile by the Kebar@by.the.kebarOur bones are dried up. Our hope is gone. We're finished.EZEKIEL 37:11–14 · BSB
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’ Therefore prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O My people, I will open your graves and bring you up from them, and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. Then you, My people, will know that I am the LORD, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. I will put My Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.’”
A voice in Ramah. Crying, bitter crying. Rachel crying for her children. She won’t let anyone comfort her, because they’re gone.
Jacob@jacob · Road to BethlehemRachel died on the road near Bethlehem, giving birth. A very hard labour. With her last breath she named our son Ben-oni, son of my sorrow. I called him Benjamin, son of my right hand.JEREMIAH 31:15 · BSB
This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, mourning and great weeping, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
Replying to @jeremiah
Stop crying, the LORD tells her. Dry your eyes. Your children will come back from the enemy’s land. There’s hope for your future.
JEREMIAH 31:16–17 · BSB
This is what the LORD says: “Keep your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for the reward for your work will come, declares the LORD. Then your children will return from the land of the enemy. So there is hope for your future, declares the LORD, and your children will return to their own land.
Israel ran off after other lovers and forgot him. And what does the LORD say he'll do? Win her back. Take her out into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. Turn the Valley of Trouble into a door of hope.
HOSEA 2:13–15 · BSB
I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she burned incense to them, when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. But Me she forgot,” declares the LORD. “Therefore, behold, I will allure her and lead her to the wilderness, and speak to her tenderly. There I will give back her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. There she will respond as she did in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
Replying to @hosea.son.of.beeri
You'll call me “my husband”, he says, not “my master”. I'll marry you for ever. In what's right and fair, in love and compassion. In faithfulness. And you will know the LORD.
HOSEA 2:16; HOSEA 2:19–20 · BSB
In that day,” declares the LORD, “you will call Me ‘my Husband,’ and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’ So I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion. And I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.”
When Babylon’s seventy years are up, he’ll come and keep his promise and bring you home. He knows the plans he has for you, he says. Plans for your good, not for harm. Plans to give you a future and a hope.
JEREMIAH 29:10–11 · BSB
For this is what the LORD says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
Replying to @jeremiah
You’ll call to him, and he’ll listen. You’ll look for him and you’ll find him, when you look with all your heart.
JEREMIAH 29:12–13 · BSB
Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Popped in to see my cousin Jeremiah in the courtyard of the guard. Asked if he’d buy my field in Anathoth. He’s family, so he gets first dibs.
JEREMIAH 32:8 · BSB
Then, as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and urged me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you own the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’” Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
Replying to @hanamel.anathoth
The LORD told me you’d come. So I bought it. Seventeen shekels of silver weighed out on the scales. Signed, sealed, witnesses, the lot.
JEREMIAH 32:7; JEREMIAH 32:9–10 · BSB
Behold! Hanamel, the son of your uncle Shallum, is coming to you to say, ‘Buy for yourself my field in Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’ So I bought the field in Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel, and I weighed out seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, called in witnesses, and weighed out the silver on the scales.
5Still in the storm
I want you to know what happened to us in Asia, the province round Ephesus. It was far more than we could bear. We honestly thought we were going to die. It felt like a death sentence. It taught us to stop trusting ourselves and trust God, who raises the dead. He rescued us, and he will again.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:8–10 · BSB
We do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the hardships we encountered in the province of Asia. We were under a burden far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us. In Him we have placed our hope that He will yet again deliver us,
Replying to @paul
Praying for you.
2 CORINTHIANS 1:11 · BSB
as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the favor shown us in answer to their prayers.
So we don’t lose heart. Outwardly we’re wasting away, but inwardly we’re being renewed day by day. These light, passing troubles are producing a glory that far outweighs them. So we fix our eyes not on what’s seen, but on what’s unseen. What’s seen doesn’t last. What’s unseen is eternal.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:16–18 · BSB
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Replying to @paul
The way he thought he was going to die in Asia and still calls these “light troubles”.
2 CORINTHIANS 4:17 · BSB
For our light and momentary affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond comparison.
To stop me getting conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I begged the Lord to take it away. He said to me, “My grace is enough for you.” His power is made perfect in weakness.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:7–9 · BSB
or because of these surpassingly great revelations. So to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
Replying to @paul
So I’ll gladly boast about my weaknesses, so Christ’s power can rest on me. Insults, hardships, persecution, trouble: for Christ’s sake, I’m glad of them. When I am weak, then I am strong.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:9–10 · BSB
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Then he took some bread, thanked God for it in front of everyone, broke it, and started eating.
ACTS 27:35 · BSB
After he had said this, Paul took bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat.
Replying to @luke
So I ate. First time in two weeks.
ACTS 27:36 · BSB
They were all encouraged and took some food themselves.
This hope is an anchor for our lives. Firm and secure. It goes right in behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone ahead of us.
HEBREWS 6:19–20 · BSB
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus our forerunner has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.
6Morning
Where it led.
Crying might last the night, but joy comes in the morning.
PSALM 30:5 · BSB
For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.
Replying to @david
You turned my mourning into dancing.
PSALM 30:11 · BSB
You turned my mourning into dancing; You peeled off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
Holding him on my lap.
Naomi@naomiDon't call me Naomi. Call me Mara. Bitter. I left full, and the LORD's brought me back empty.RUTH 4:16 · BSB
And Naomi took the child, placed him on her lap, and became a nurse to him.
Replying to @naomi
Naomi has a son! We've called him Obed.
RUTH 4:17 · BSB
The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David.
After Job prays for his friends, the LORD restores everything. Twice what he had before.
JOB 42:10 · BSB
After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his prosperity and doubled his former possessions.
Stayed outside the tomb crying. A man asked why I’m crying, who I’m looking for. I thought he was the gardener. If you’ve moved him, please, tell me where. And he said: Mary.
JOHN 20:11–16 · BSB
But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb, and she saw two angels in white sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and the other at the feet. “Woman, why are you weeping?” they asked. “Because they have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I do not know where they have put Him.” When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there. But she did not recognize that it was Jesus. “Woman, why are you weeping?” Jesus asked. “Whom are you seeking?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried Him off, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).
Replying to @marymagdalene
It’s him. He told me not to hold on to him, he hasn’t gone up to the Father yet. Go and tell my brothers.
JOHN 20:16–17 · BSB
Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). “Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’”
That stranger. He walked us through everything the Scriptures say about the Messiah, starting with Moses. We asked him to stay. At the table he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it. And suddenly we could see. It was him. Then he was gone.
Cleopas@cleopas · The road to EmmausThen a stranger falls in with us and asks what we're talking about. We just stopped. You could see it on our faces. Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who doesn't know? Jesus of Nazareth. We had hoped he was the one who'd set Israel free. And now it's the third day.LUKE 24:25–31 · BSB
Then Jesus said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself. As they approached the village where they were headed, He seemed to be going farther. But they pleaded with Him, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening and the day is almost over.” So He went in to stay with them. While He was reclining at the table with them, He took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Jesus—and He disappeared from their sight.
Replying to @cleopas
Weren't our hearts burning the whole time he was talking to us on the road?
LUKE 24:32 · BSB
They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us as He spoke with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
When the LORD brought us home to Zion, it felt like a dream. We couldn't stop laughing. Even the other nations said it: the LORD has done great things for them.
PSALM 126:1–2 · BSB
A song of ascents. When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers. Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
Replying to @theisraelites
The ones who sow in tears will harvest with shouts of joy.
PSALM 126:5 · BSB
Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes. No more death. No more mourning. No more crying. No more pain. All of that has gone.
REVELATION 21:4 · BSB
‘He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’ and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
None of them felt hopeful first. They kept talking to him, and kept going.
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