Hope...Is there any left?

Last night was a drawing for the largest lottery jackpot in American history. I watched the news reports that showed people lined up around the corner, just to spend money for the chance that they would be chosen.  Isn't that how we are? We want to, desire to be, chosen.  To be special.  To be some sort of elite.  Its ingrained in our hearts and there's nothing we can do about it.  But more so, there was a shot at hope.  Never mind the chance of being chosen was 176,000,000.  Its ironic that there was such a desperation for hope that people stopped considering the odds were exponentially growing out of their favor with each new ticket being purchased.

It was laid on my heart that this is indeed a broken and desperate world.  A world where it is viewed that the only hope left is money.  I sat back confident that the Slays were not going to win the lottery but realizing that I was already lucky; I already had more than enough.  Not just enough food, water, shelter.  Though what I have is humble by American standards, its more than most of the world could ever dream of!  But I have Jesus and therefore I have hope.  A hope for goodness and mercy.  A hope for justice and righteousness.  A hope for an intercessor to plead my case before the throne of the Creator Himself. 

Money can't buy happiness but Hope can give you peace.  And so I sit today in my humble surroundings ever more thankful because I have Hope and I was chosen.  Don't get me wrong; money helps solve a lot of problems and a good steward could do a lot of good in this world. But not necessarily the kind of good that this world needs. This world needs truth; the absolute truth that doesn't leave us wobbling on a fine line between our own limited human understanding and the feeling that there's something more, something we aren't "getting."  This world needs a Savior.  Someone to be a father to the fatherless, a husband to the widow, a comfort to the brokenhearted.  That's what I have and it's my prayer that everyone would receive such a Hope.

As for the lottery: I think I'll leave that to everyone else.  My odds seem to be much better in the Throne Room than at the lottery.