In Search of Hope

Recently, I heard a young minister express how these current times have had him pondering more soberly the depth of evil being comfortably displayed among fellow man. He was particularly burdened by the openness of everyday people endorsing, if not celebrating, the assassination of a public figure and Christ-follower, Charlie Kirk. His contemplations brought him back to Genesis 50 when Joseph assured his brothers that their evil plot against him was repurposed by God. Joseph said in verses 19 and 20a, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (NASB throughout). 

When it comes to evil in this world, how bad will it get? Paul writes in 2 Timothy 3, “But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, slanderers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these” (verses 1-5).  

Paul continues in verse 13, “But evil people and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.” Still making his point in chapter 4, Paul continues, “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and they will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths” (verses 3, 4).  

In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of what is to come, speaking of wars and rumors of wars, betrayal and hatred, false prophets, lawlessness, and most people’s love turning cold. It’s at this point that many believers start thinking of Maranatha; come, Lord Jesus! 

It takes little effort to recall remarkably evil times in history. The Crusades, the holocaust, slavery, 9/11, and the Sandy Hook mass shooting are just a few. There have been appalling storylines describing the nature of some communities or cultures over the course of time. Such references might include Pompeii’s vile and depraved practices before their destruction by Vesuvius. The biblical site of Carthage has archaeological excavations uncovering thousands of babies sacrificed to Baal. Then there is Sodom. Lot’s visitors in Sodom and how that story played out is always difficult for me to read. How long have people of faith been calling out, “Come, Lord Jesus!” 

Knowing what the word of God says about where humanity is headed should not thwart our desire to hear God roar like a lion from time to time. When Jesus had just entered Jerusalem with His crucifixion only days away, He promptly started flipping tables of money changers at the temple. Jesus was very vocal about the focus being properly placed on God, even amid Jewish authorities hating Him for His unabashed forwardness. This whole image of Jesus just cleaning house, if you will, flipping tables and voicing reprimands, is a scene that offers gratification in this world. In truth, it is more than just gratification. It is hope. In reality, God does storm the earth and flip tables, so to speak. Things happen that humble us, and human beings are in great need of humility. Then comes an awakening to the authority of God Almighty, and people reconsider where hope is consistently readily available. Hope will never be consistently readily available among people or born in this world. It takes a good crisis to remind us of our ignorance and weakness, along with a good, Godly table-flipping, and people tend to flock toward the stability of the hope God offers. 

There have been various spiritual revivals documented in history. Such revivals include The Moravian Revival of 1727, the Great Awakenings of the 1700s and the 1800s, Cane Ridge, the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 70s, and, more recently, the 2023 Asbury Revival. This is just a short list, but historically, these spiritual power surges follow humbling times. In the midst of evil, God flips tables, and we find ourselves overflowing with hope and witnessing the very words of Joseph, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.” 

There are some odd facts playing out simultaneously. Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, and it is on the rise. The Family Research Council’s Center for Religious Liberty published an article in their February 2024 issue called “Freedom to Believe?” The report notes “an increase in intolerance toward public and even private expression of biblical worldviews in the West” (FRC Releases Updated Report Detailing the Intensifying Intolerance Toward Christians in the West). The report goes on to say, “As mainstream culture moves further and further away from a Christian worldview, Christian beliefs that contradict progressive secular values are increasingly denounced by the culture and wrongly portrayed as being hateful or bigoted.” At the same time, Barna’s September 2025 report shares the following: “Millennials and Gen Z are driving a resurgence in church attendance. As reports emerge of spiritual interest, rising faith activity, signs of revival—including Barna’s analysis of the recent rise in commitments to Jesus—churchgoing frequency is another improving trend among Millennials and Gen Z in the U.S. While overall church attendance trends have been flat in recent years, the return to church among the next generation stands out as a powerful sign of rising openness to faith” (New Barna Data: Young Adults Lead a Resurgence in Church Attendance). Bible purchases are up with a twenty-year high in copies sold. Since Charlie Kirk was silenced with a bullet, his mission of providing conservative young adults with a college-based program has had 120,000 new inquiries and added over 62,000 new students to their chapters across the nation. 

It is a truth we can count on that the evil of man is on a course that should make us tremble. Even so, God shows up, He shows His authority, He flips some tables, and we come in contact with certain hope. Daniel 2:21 says, “It is He who changes the times and the periods; He removes kings and appoints kings; He gives wisdom to wise men, and knowledge to people of understanding.” 

In 1942, in German-occupied Poland, Szlama Ber Winer, a Polish Jew, was held captive in the first Nazi extermination camp located in Chelmno, Poland. He, along with other captives, was forced to dig trenches for burying the murdered remains of fellow Jews being trucked in by the hundreds daily. They were put in the back of cargo trucks that had been modified with a flexible tube attached to the exhaust pipe such that the exhaust was routed back into the cargo compartment of the vehicle. Of course, the Jews were locked inside dying while the driver covered enough miles to sufficiently fumigate them to death. These trucks were the precursor to gas chambers that were used later during the war at places like Auschwitz. It was the very beginning of one of the darkest times in history. Szlama, along with a fellow Jew, determined that they must escape to warn all Jews what was happening and to inform the world of such depravity. Szlama’s is a remarkable story of a daring flight out of the hands of vicious captors and into the home of a Rabbi who aided his mission to share the truth of such treachery. By way of the Jewish underground working in Poland, the story reached London, and the BBC broadcast it on June 26, 1942. The world had been advised. They had the information fully three years before six million Jews were eradicated from the earth. This certainly demonstrates that evil has a voracious appetite. It also clearly points to the fact that humanity and this world cannot be relied upon to provide true, everlasting hope. 

Those in search of unfailing hope will find it in God alone. He is ever available, a Master table-flipper, the Ultimate Authority, the destination of hope for all and always. Search no more.