Don't Lose Hope

Recently, I was reminded of the great Greek classic The Odyssey written by Homer. Homer also penned The Iliad which chronicles the ten years spanning the Trojan War. The Odyssey is the sequel which chronicles the hero Odysseus’ ten-year journey home. In this particular poem, we encounter a sad scene when Odysseus travels to the Underworld. 

“Then appeared the ghost of my dead mother,

Anticleia, brave Autolycus' daughter.

I'd left her still alive when I set off

for sacred Troy. Once I caught sight of her,

I wept, and I felt pity in my heart." ...

A harsh old age has overtaken him.

That's how I met my fate and died, as well.

I was not attacked and killed in my own home

by gentle arrows of the keen-eyed archer,

nor did I die of some disease which takes

the spirit from our limbs, as we waste away 

in pain. No. It was my longing for you, 

glorious Odysseus, for your loving care,

that robbed me of my life, so honey sweet.’

— The Odyssey by Homer, Book XI

Odysseus has most shockingly found his mother, Anticleia, in Tartarus. She was alive and well when he had left his home, Ithaca, over ten years prior. But as the long war ended and her son struggled to find his way home, Anticleia lost hope. His father began to live and sleep like a servant. His son, Telemachus, began to search for his father once he was old enough. His wife struggled to remain strong at home. But his mother lost hope. And when she lost her hope, she lost her will to live. And so, she died.

Scripture tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick, but desire fulfilled is a tree of life (Prov. 13:12). Never a truer word was said. 

Anticleia could no longer envision her desire fulfilled. She died of heart sickness, of a broken heart, broken expectations. The deferment of fulfillment destroyed her desire to live and in the end, she welcomed death as a friend.

This is where many Believers are. You understand the suffering of Anticleia in your own way. Your promise is so long in coming that you cannot see how God can bring it past. Many around you have given up hope that the promise will be manifested. And those who have maintained their hope almost seem foolish. 

Mockers, taunters, and naysayers are on every hand. For Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, these came in the form of suitors who began to take over the palace and await the presumed selection of her new husband. For you, they may sound like Job's friends: full of wisdom, but no revelation for your situation. Or they may sound like Job's wife: inducing him to curse God and die. Either way, the hope of the Lord is not in their mouth. They do not believe the promise, and so they speak against its fulfillment. 

I said this recently, and I will say this again:

If the enemy is telling you you're going to die,

If the enemy is telling you to kill yourself,

It's because he's terrified of what will happen if you live.

The enemy can delay the promise, but he cannot prevent it.

The enemy cannot stop the promise, so he'll try to get you to give up the ghost so you do not live to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Anticleia's portion is not yours! I'm sure if she'd known her son was alive, she could have found the strength to live to see him. But I am here to tell you as a prophet—a true prophet—that your promise is alive!

DO NOT lay down and die. 

DO NOT give up the ghost.

DO NOT take your life.

DO NOT buy into the lie that it will not happen for you.

God WILL come through for you.