Momentum For Monday, February 17th 2025

“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.” (Psalm 62:5)

I had a conversation with a friend a few months back that has played in the back of both of our minds since (in a good way). We were catching up with one another's lives and happened to discuss some challenges both of us were facing individually when the idea of hope came up, or the lack thereof. The question that became the center of the discussion was, “What is your shoe?” Let me explain.

Life rarely goes as expected. In fact, many people, including people of faith, have an inward anxiety that lies dormant in them which is essentially them waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. It’s this feeling that when things are going well, that something is bound to happen that leaves us devastated. Embracing peace or rest escapes them because there’s always something that’s bound to happen. So, they walk around with caution like some child in a haunted house waiting for someone to spook the daylights out of them. Is that really how life is supposed to be lived?

When Jesus said he came to give life abundantly (John 10:10), I don’t think waiting for the other shoe to drop is what he meant. We weren’t meant to have abundant fear and dread. That’s not life. That’s slow torture.

The remedy is being rooted in the love of God and trusting in his care. No threat of a shoe dropping can rattle someone who has absolute trust over God’s protection and love. While that’s such a simple thing to tell you, it’s another thing to live out. If you read Job, you’d see that he was a man that experienced the absolute worst of shoes that dropped and lived through it to experience God’s goodness again. There is no guarantee for an easy life, but there is a guarantee for refuge and help that comes from the Holy Spirit.

Do you have a shoe waiting to drop? Do you have a situation that’s looming in the back of your mind causing underlying anxiety? Is it financial hardship? Loss of a child or spouse? A threat of health? What is your shoe? Allow God into these fears so that he can restore the ability to hope again.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

(Romans 15:13)