Hope for the Weary

September 17, 2025

I remember a story about a man attending a little league baseball game.

The little children were all on the field or in the dugout, playing their hearts out. It was only the first inning, and the score was already 16 – 0. One team was losing in a landslide.

The man walked up to the dugout of the losing team and asked one little boy if he was discouraged by the score. Had he lost hope?

The little boy looked at him, a little puzzled, and said, “Why would I be discouraged? We haven’t even gotten up to bat yet. There is always hope!”

To live each day with such HOPE.

But it is easy to lose HOPE.

All we must do is watch the news, scroll social media, or to a friend spout negativity, going on-and-on with all the things wrong with the world.

All we must do is focus on the divide in our own country, the countless lives lost in the war on Ukraine, or the suffering taking place in Gaza.

For some of us, we don’t need to see it on television or hear about it from others…we are personally experiencing suffering, loss, and fear of the unknown

But you don’t have to do any of these things or experience any of these things to lose HOPE…all you have to do is NOTHING…

In her book, How Did I Get Here?...Christine Caine writes:

“All you have to do is nothing and you will drift. For my marriage to drift apart, I don't have to necessarily do anything bad. I just have to neglect my marriage. And for my children to drift away from me, I don't have to do anything bad. I just have to neglect them for my health or fitness to drift down a negative road. I don't have to do anything bad necessarily. I just have to do nothing. I think the reminder is that small things do make a big difference. In a world that is so overwhelmed with so much pain, so much suffering, so much injustice, and so much chaos, I am reminded of what are small things that we do every single day that make the difference between us drifting or not.”

I find that little things can cause me to DRIFT…especially when I am tired and worn out…

Lately, the fact that we have been trying to sell our RV for 6 months and it won’t sell…the fact that the books I write are so slow to be noticed…these things have caused me to drift and I find myself spending more time checking how many people are viewing our RV or purchasing a book than with God…

As my wife constantly says to me, “Have you prayed about it as much as you’ve talked and worried about it?”

Often, my answer is “No.” I’ve drifted.

Hope

The Church throughout history has had the audacity to have hope in the face of trouble. It stems from the victory of the resurrected Jesus Christ. When things looked the darkest for Jesus, as he hung on the cross, he knew it was far from over. The tomb would not be the end.

Paul writes to the early church in Corinth, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

-2 Corinthians 4:16-18

In the Gospels, Jesus was always offering hope to those around him. Whether it was a crippling disease, an oppressive government, a physical or spiritual hunger, or an evil attack, Jesus would meet people right where they were. Wherever Jesus went, he brought hope.

“As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus. They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went—into villages, towns or countryside—they placed the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.”

-Mark 6:54-56

Life is hard. There are times when we need a reminder that there is hope. Life’s circumstances have a way of leaving us hopeless.

Waiting for a diagnosis, paying off bills, saving a marriage, enduring the death of a loved one, trying to grow spiritually. It is times like this when we feel like we cannot keep going and all we want to do is give up.

I would argue that there is nothing in life that can steal our hope more than when we find ourselves weary, tired, or worn out. I know when I’m tired, I am most susceptible to approaching the day with negativity and fear, rather than hope and joy.

It’s like the famous NFL coach Vince Lombardi once said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all.”

Jesus was aware of the tendency of people to shoulder heavy burdens and for this to cause them to lose hope.

Jesus spoke to his followers about John the Baptist’s faithfulness amid prison and the questions he was asking about Jesus’ identity. He was losing hope about whether Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and if his work had been in vain. Considering this, Jesus speaks these words:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

-Matthew 11:28-30

First, Jesus is acknowledging that life is heavy. We live life without margin. We are hard on ourselves. Many work hard to keep up with others around us and we get weary. Jesus is normalizing this for us. We should not feel bad when we feel crushed by burdens. We should not feel like a failure. When we do, we often shy away from going to God for help, and we avoid being vulnerable with others as well. But Jesus tells us that if we are weary, we should come to Him. It is an invitation.

Secondly, Jesus offers us a solution. He tells us to exchange our yoke for another. A yoke is a wooden harness that a farmer would attach to livestock to plow a field or to pull a cart. The yoke would help keep the livestock safe as they worked and would help the animal submit to the farmer.

He invites us to remove whatever yokes we have had around our necks and to place his yoke upon us, because it is easy, it is light, and it will give us rest.

Jesus offers hope for the weary by reminding us that our value is not found in how well we hold it together when things get tough or how we compare to the people around us. Our value comes from the love that he has for us and the grace he gives.

If you find yourself weary today, whether because of circumstances you cannot control or situations that you are responsible for, ask yourself, “Have I drifted?”

There is hope for a better tomorrow, hope for true purpose, hope for a clean slate, and hope for peace and rest. It is found in Jesus. Because where Jesus is, there is HOPE.