The death of hope

It was Sabbath.  The disciples were in shock.  All they had lived for, all they expected was over.  Jesus was dead.  

There's nothing written about this day in the Bible, but we can imagine that the day was full of grief, loss and fear.  They were experiencing the death of hope.  The death of all they dreamed.

Between loss and the work of God is always a sense of hopelessness.  Between death and what God will do next he left them with a day of nothing.  I imagine they were silent, unable to verbalize their feeling or disbelief.

There were tears.  Shock. Mental paralysis...what do we do now?

Between the death of hope and the resurrection of God's new work we each experience a time of grief, a time when hope dies...but wait, just wait.

Soon, in the midst of loss, you will see the resurrection of your hope in what God is doing.  And it will be more glorious than you imagined.

On this day they couldn't imagine what the next day would bring and in that resurrection all death of hope vaporized and a joy unimagined came.  

Like Job this day was sackcloth and ashes for the disciples, but just wait...in 24 hours they will forget all of this and be amazed at the work of their wonderful God.

And so will you.