May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Having served at a Christian addiction recovery facility for many years, I have observed both hope and hopelessness at most every level. Often, those that arrive have attempted to curb or cease to use drugs and alcohol without success. They see rehab as their last resort to become free from addiction.

There is a striking similarity between our clients and those that finally surrender to Christ. Usually, a person succumbs to salvation only after sin has run its course and they are devoid of any other alternatives. It would seem that being the last option would be insulting to the Lord, but not so. He lovingly and patiently waits for us to run the gamut of the world’s answers to our problems, ready to receive us when all of our ideas are spent.

Perhaps no song written portrays the sinner’s quest and ultimate surrender better than Edward Mote’s hymn from 1834, Christ the Solid Rock:

My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
I dare not trust the sweetest frame,
But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.

It sounds as though the writer had traveled many avenues himself, only to discover that each one was a dead end.

“All other ground is sinking sand.”

In my own life, I have searched far and wide for that illusive, delusional substitute for total surrender to the Savior. This search finally ended almost four decades ago when I had an encounter with the Spirit of God in my living room. And so here I am, ripe in years with little time remaining to accomplish what could have been, yet at peace. The peace came when I traded my hope in the things that might happen, to hope in what has happened. That of course was the atoning death or our precious Lord. I will now live out the hours, days, and years that He allows, attempting in my own feeble way to please Him as best I can.

“When we recognize this life as the training and trying ground that it is, we can finally begin to focus on preparing ourselves for the most spectacular experience mankind has ever imagined. Eternity in Paradise and in the presence of our loving Creator, will be more spectacular than all the writers of fiction that ever lived combined could ever describe!”

Wayne Hudson