Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts - Best of Hope Ep. 2 - The Dark Side of Hope

Episode Date: August 28, 2023

It can be difficult to hold onto hope, especially when things seem bleak. However, it's important to remember that hope is always the answer. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in perspective or expectations to see things in a more positive light. That's why we've gathered some inspiring drops of hope from SJR’s sermons and messages that have helped us during our own moments of despair. It is our prayer that by sharing these with you, we're able to provide a boost of hope when you need it most. Remember, in times like these, hope is never truly lost. Join us over the next few weeks as we hold onto hope together!

Hey you, I know that you're not used to hearing from me on a day other than our wins they drop, but I wanted to share something with you over the next few weeks that has been helping me tremendously throughout the year. You already know that we have spent the year talking about hope in all of its different forms and all of its different expressions. Still, I have found myself mesmerized by the hope that is within reach, but often feel so very far away. As I've spent the last year talking about hope, I recognize something that I felt like every woman should know. Instead of thinking that

all hope is lost, I discovered that all hope is truly found. When we set our expectation and perspective towards the direction of hope, we discover that it is not as out of reach as we once thought it was. Over the next few weeks, I would like to share with you a little drop of hope, something to keep you going throughout the week from sermons and messages that have kept me alive in some of my most hopeless moments. Maybe you're not going through a hopeless season, maybe you're like me, and with Waman Evolve 2023 right around the corner, you are full of hope and stress. Well, guess what? More hope is the answer to stress.

When you believe in the work that you are doing, when you believe in that outcome that is possible as a result of your obedience, when you live in the hope of what is to become, you become more like Jesus. For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross. For the joy that is set before me in experiencing transformation of women's lives, of encounters that draws closer to God, of sisterhood and connection. For that joy that is set before me, I have found hope to help me survive the stressful moments of putting it all together. These podcasts won't be very long but they will be very powerful

and impactful. And to start it off, I figured that we might as well acknowledge hope as the positive emotion that it is. Has anyone considered though that it has a dark side? For instance, I'm sure you know what it feels like to watch your hopes slip away, a painful and piercing experience that would have you believe God has taken his eye off of the situation. You may think your hope is dying, but this podcast, these next few moments that we're going to spend together, will be me calling hope out of a tomb. There is a dark side of hope.

hope. Simeon says in Luke 234, he blessed them and Mary. And he says, behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel. And for a sign which will be spoken against, yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. No, no, no, no, no, no. He's going to be the King of Kings of his kingdom. There will be no end. You got the wrong one. He says, no, he is destined for the rise and fall of many. But in the process of that hope being manifested. There's going to be a dark side of it and in that dark side it's going to feel like a sword is piercing through your own soul that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Can I tell you something? There's a dark side of hope. There's a dark side of hope. There's a persevering side required to really access hope. And if I don't tell you this, you'll think that there's something wrong when your hope is under attack. You'll think that maybe you lost it.

You'll think maybe I don't have the character for it. You'll start to lose hope. So when I see Mary in John 19, I see a woman with a sword piercing through her soul. 33 years ago, somebody told me to expect my hope to be pierced. I can imagine seeing her son there slipping away, her hope slipping away. She can hear in that moment a sword piercing through her own soul is not happening to her. It's happening to the things she hoped for. It's not happening to you, not necessarily. It's just happening to the thing I hoped for. I hoped that the marriage would be different.

I hoped that the business would be different. I hoped that my mother would change that. I hoped for something. And now hope is slipping away. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. I'm running out of time. I'm running out of reason. I'm running out of strategy. I'm running out of passion.

I see hope slipping away. And all I can do is sit back and watch it. All I can do is sit back and persevere. I don't know what to say. I don't know how to fix it. I can't stand in front of it. My hope is slipping away. Jesus, her hope, looks down at her and says, behold, you're looking at your hope slip away. The whole is about what you're looking at. Jesus gives her permission to look away

from where her hope is slipping away. Some of us can't look away because we think that looking away and giving up are the same thing and they are not. You've done all that you can do. You've taken me as far as you can take me, mom. God's got it from here. You've taken that thing as far as you can do, but I'm going to tell you, mom, don't lose hope. He doesn't say turn and leave me.

He says, woman, behold your son. You're still a mother. Oh, God, I love this text. Because Mary already had children, it's not like she was going to be without children. But for some reason Jesus says, I need you to remember what it's like to be called to motherhood. I need you to remember what it's like to be called to something that seems impossible. I need you to not lose hope in the character that brought you to this moment, even though you feel like what you hoped for is slipping away. So Jesus calls her back.

No. Jesus calls her away from persevering. And into character. Because he sends a word that demands a different version of who she is. A version she once was, but she got stuck in persevering. But the same word that changed her belief system in Luke 1 gives her permission to look away in John 19. And my text says that after Jesus is woman, behold your son and son,

behold your mother, that they left that very hour. This is hard because some of us are so busy babysitting God that we can't look away to see how things are going to change, to see if things will change. We can't move into a space of character. We can't move into a space of character. We can't move into a space of calling. We can't move into a space of purpose and intentionality because I want to sit and watch how this thing works out. But Jesus has to send her away so that the work can be completed because when she looks away that hope gets to have the ultimate transformation. She thought her hope was dying.

She doesn't realize that it was actually transforming. Oh, I'm almost finished, I promise. But she had to let go of the hope of a mother to have the hope of glory into the world. You can hold on to your hope for as long as you can. But there may come a moment when holding onto your hope keeps God from introducing the hope of glory into your life. So you have to be willing to do the hard work of releasing the hope of what you thought it would be,

the hope of how you thought it would be, the hope of how you thought it should turn out, the hope of what you wanted it to be. And trust that God can transform your hope to be something that you never could have imagined. Because when Mary sees Jesus again, he is not that boy who was beaten and wounded on that cross. He is not that boy who said why has now forsaken me? He's got holes in his hand but the holes don't make him. He's walking in a new being. He's walking in a new power, a new authority. So she had to get out of the way so that God could have his way when Mary finally got to a place where she moved out of the way When she got to a place where she said I'm gonna look away, but when I look away I'm trusting that God's gonna keep his eye on the situation. I'm gonna stop controlling it

I'm gonna stop manipulating it. I'm going to stop watching it and protecting it. And trust that if God brought it to the cross, then that same God can take it to the tomb. And if God takes it to the tomb, then God can't transform it. Until there is resurrected power for the place that I thought hope was dying. I'm sorry, but I feel the Holy Ghost calling somebody's hope out of a tool. I hear the Holy Ghost saying, your hope is not dire.