The Hopeless Dawn

"The Hopeless Dawn" is a painting by Frank Bramley, the English painter (1857 to 1915). The painting shows a young widow, who has just found out that her husband was lost at sea. She is being comforted by her godly mother-in-law. Notice the altar-like table, suggesting the Lord's Supper. Notice the big open Bible on the seat by the window. The two suffering women are not alone. Christ is there in their midst.

Sooner or later every one of us is confronted with a hopeless dawn.

Hopeless, as someone or something important to us like our jobs, our sense of security, our hopes are suddenly taken away from us.

A dawn, because that very moment of overwhelming loss is a new beginning. Christ is there. He is right in the midst of that terrible transition and He is effecting a change. A new dawn is therefore rising. A new wind is blowing and a new birth is taking place.

I have met many many people, who have simply lived long enough to get body-slammed by life in some unforeseeable, major way. Divorce, disease, their business stolen out from underneath them, sued, a wayward child breaking their heart, a marraige falling apart and so forth. Just this morning I got an email from a young husband who is at a lost because his wife is walking out on him.

These tragedies can happen to any of us. When they happen, previous successes make no difference and offer no protection. Sooner or later, the unimaginable comes and finds us. It's just a matter of time.

What I am learning is that such a moment is not when I should say, "Its all over. There is nothing left. Its just all dark." Instead, it is when I can say, "Okay, now a new day is dawning. God will send the Second Wind. Christ is there in this transition. It looks hopeless but it is a new dawn."

Isa 43:19 (The Message Bible)
Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand-new.
It's bursting out! Don't you see it?
There it is! I'm making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.