Introduction
CLOUDY VISION

In March 2013, I spent a week in and around Tromso, a Norwegian city located within the Arctic Circle. Coming from a city-state on the equator, I was looking forward to experiencing snowfall in its softest powder form. But what I was hoping for more than that was to see the aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights.

After a week, I’d witnessed the former (through my tropical lenses, the falling snow was simply magical) but sadly not the latter. We had even spent a few nights in a cabin far from the city and, still, we’d missed seeing the aurora.

Back home, my disappointment was met with well-intentioned responses meant to make me feel better: Did you check the weather forecast? (Yes.) Did you stay up late enough? (Yes.) Did you stay for at least three nights? Did you go on a tour to chase the lights? (Yes and yes.) I tried shrugging it off, but the reality was it was just too cloudy.

It seems I’d done everything necessary and still didn’t get the results I’d hoped for. This same realization hits me each time I face disappointments in life. Does it seem that way to you too—when stuck in a marriage that’s breaking down, rejected at yet another job interview, overlooked for that promotion, discouraged by news that the latest round of medication isn’t working? After striving and doing all that’s needed, there’s no certainty that we’ll get what we hope for.

Feels frustrating, doesn’t it? Maybe even helpless. We can do everything right and, still, things go wrong.

During a low point in my life, I found myself asking: How did it go so wrong? It was a time when, after years of serving as leaders, my husband and I found ourselves without a church community. At the same time, I was struggling with a severe flare-up of eczema. There was also unspoken anxiety over our financial situation because of my husband’s job situation, and our communication lost the depth of emotional intimacy it once had. Weeks went by without any positive development, and then months. I started to resent living and felt stuck in a season that I didn’t foresee and which didn’t seem to be passing.

At that time, I could only describe the experience as living under a heavy dark cloud that refused to go away. I see now that it was a sense of hopelessness. With each passing day, it seemed harder to have hope for our marriage, my health, his career, our relationship with the church.

As I struggled to sleep each night, filled with dread for the next day, I’d pray, Help me, Lord. These three little words were all I had; I didn’t know what else to say. It took months before that heavy dark cloud lifted and even longer before the other issues were dealt with.

But during those dark days, God met me where I was. The words of Lamentations 3:21-23 (ESV) became something I held on to:

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

When waking up to a new day felt terrible, when staying alive felt difficult, it was during those times that I came to understand the faithfulness of God. Little by little, as He helped me to persevere through the day, He showed me that there is hope. It’s a hope found not in a set of circumstances, not even the most ideal ones, but found in a Person—none other than Jesus Himself.

Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we’ve been born again “into a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3 NIV) and “into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (v. 4). When we hope in Jesus, there’s certainty for our future. Even when we “may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials” (v. 6), we can rejoice because we have hope—not just any hope, but a hope that’s true and certain.

Being unable to see the northern lights during that trip in Norway taught me something about our vision. The thing with auroras is that they happen constantly. From Earth, however, we may not see them all the time, due to location, light pollution, or cloud conditions. It’s not that they’re not there; it’s just that we don’t see them.

And hope is a lot like that. Hope is always there, but we don’t always see it or feel it. Hope isn’t the problem, our vision is. Sometimes it’s because we’re looking in the wrong places or sometimes it’s just too cloudy. Wherever you are right now, there is hope. You don’t have to wait for the right set of circumstances or see things happen to have it. Because Jesus died for our sins and rose to life again, we have hope in this life.

As you read the following devotional articles, my prayer for you are the words from Ephesians 1:18: I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.

Jasmine Goh, Our Daily Bread author

| Day 1: Adrift

A man desperate for work agreed to spend six months miles from shore on a tiny fishing hut—lighting lamps to attract fish. His only human contact occurred once a week when supplies were delivered. Disaster struck when the hut’s mooring…

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| Day 2: When Disappointment Comes

To try to rid himself of his disappointments, a man decided to auction off his belongings on eBay. He said, “On the day all my possessions are sold, I intend to walk out of my front door with my wallet and passport and nothing else.”

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| Day 3: Finding Joy in Longing

Author Susan Cain’s research revealed that people played the happy songs on their playlists an average of 175 times but the sad songs 800 times. What is it about sad music that’s so compelling for many? Cain suggests it has to do with our…

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| Day 4: Way More

George had a passion for telling others about Jesus. He organized a gospel crusade in his high school. In college, he recruited two of his friends to distribute the Bible in Mexico. George Verwer later founded the international ministry…

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| Day 5: The Sweeper’s Prayer

When Raza saw a man sweeping his street, he felt sorry for him and gave him some money. The man thanked him and asked Raza if he could pray for him. Surprised, Raza wondered how to answer, feeling conflicted but wanting to make the man…

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| Day 6: God Remembers

Sok Ching had just recovered from Covid-19 when her aged mother took a fall. Days later, her mother died. Then her estranged husband filed for divorce and threatened to fight for custody of their young son. Sok Ching felt like she was going through…

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| Day 7: As Spring Follows Winter

Standing trial for the “crime” of writing about his nation’s unprovoked invasion of another, the journalist made his final statement. Yet he didn’t defend himself. Instead, he spoke boldly. “The day will come when the darkness over our country will…

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| Day 8: Detective Work

In 1986, Sir David Suchet, the English actor known for playing detective Hercule Poirot, began a quest to understand the resurrection of Jesus. Wondering what would happen after he died, he began reading the book of Romans.

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| Day 9: Known by God

“Who is this stranger?” A college student in Georgia (USA) asked that question when a fellow student texted him saying a DNA test showed they could be brothers. Separated by adoption almost twenty years earlier, the young man texted a reply in …

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| Day 10: Nail-Scarred Hands

Like me, you may know exactly when you received certain wounds that left scars. A small scar on my wrist is the result of a fellow middle-school band member plowing me over in his haste. Another on my elbow is from the time a driver mistook …

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| Conclusion: There Is Hope

Fear, anxiety, and depression can fill our hearts when we’re battered by the blows life delivers. Those are normal responses. And if you’re experiencing them, don’t beat yourself up. In time, by God’s grace, light and delight can return. Some life-giving words that …

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