This week, I’ve been encouraged by 1 Samuel 2:8.
“He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heep; He seats them with the princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the Earth are the Lord’s, upon them He sets the world.”
What a sweet promise for the people I spend my days with! The go-go’s, the crying babies, the needy children and the hungry adolescents, each of them will be raised out of these dusty, barren lands and will be seated next to the Creator of the universe and fed unceasingly. The Lord is delighted with His children, no matter how dirty or hungry or needy or poor or desperate, and He will make them sparkle like gems at His gates. I think that makes every hand we hold, every bowl we fill, every nose we wipe worthwhile. I can rest easily knowing that a comforter much stronger than our pale and weary arms has these people drawn close. Driving away from care points and knowing that those kids are on their own breaks my heart, but to know that they will be given honor and will be crowned like royalty thrills me.
I serve a good and faithful God who never fails His promises. This God loves endlessly, doesn’t keep score, hears every laugh and catches every tear. He sent His child to death for the very purpose of raising toothless, giggly boys with protruding bellies, over-sized American t-shirts and bare, cracked feet to the throne where His baby once sat. He sent His beloved to death so that the baby girl with no diaper, piercing screams, ringworm patches on her scalp and sleepy little eyes can find comfort and be the princess of His castle. He sent His boy to death so that the twig-thin man in the tiny butterfly t-shirt, babbling incessantly and marching around with glue in his pocket and a stagnant cloud of body odor and liquor lingering behind him can claim his inheritance before the All-knowing Provider. He laid down His son to raise Swaziland out of its dust.
There is hope for this ill, poverty-stricken nation. The hope is the King of kings, Lord of lords, Alpha, Omega, Creator, Sustainer, Provider, Father, Friend. The Hope brought me here, and will bring me home safely. The Hope will never fade or cease or pass away. The Hope is here to make royalty out of the forgotten. The Hope is here to stay.
There is hope, beauty and promise in these dusty roads.
