Harold Camping’s false prediction of the end of the world on May 21st has dominated headlines over the past week. Tragically however, the media has chosen to focus on the tomfoolery of soothsaying rather than empathize with those have to deal with the heartbreak of hopelessness. The real miscalculation of Camping’s campaign is not the date of Jesus’ return, but rather the incalculable feeling of loss that fateful believers in Camping’s message endured. It is in this miscalculation that the real human interest stories began to emerge – stories of people selling everything to invest in the Judgment Day campaign; others of people going for broke on their credit cards, only to be left with an inestimable amount of debt on May 22nd. The New Yorker even referenced a historian who noted that we as human beings like to think about the end of the world because it helps us “reconcile two conflicting beliefs… The first is that there is something dreadfully wrong with the world of human existence today… On the other hand, there is a sense that there is … a hope for a better future.” Turns out even non-theologians can have profound insights into the human condition: we want to believe in a better future because the best of today just isn’t good enough. Why was President Obama’s “HOPE” campaign so wildly successful? Because people want to follow people that offer hope. Throw in a charismatic person ready to tell you that there is hope in the end… Hopelessness makes us do crazy things.
And just as I was about to forget about the tragedy of non-happenings, another headline caught my attention last night. Another South Korean celebrity has committed an apparent suicide. Chae Dong-ha, a member of the popular (they have to be popular since even I’ve heard of them) musical group SG Wannabe, hanged himself last night. He was battling depression. He was 30 years old. Fame, friends, wealth, youth – none of that mattered when Chae Dong-ha decided to end his life.
As I read that news last night, all I could think about was about how ready people are to hear some news of hope. It caused me to think about the stories of the apocalyptos all over again. It reminded me of the rallying cry of President Obama’s presidential campaign. It brought to mind the refrain from U2′s hit “Forty”: How long to sing that song? How long? How long?
Which ultimately took me back to David’s Psalm. There is comfort there because there is a promise there. A promise of hope, of a future, and of a God who wants to deliver. A God who wants to deliver us from pain, from harm, from hopelessness. That’s what people need. That’s what people are dying for. I’m praying for a day when everyone finds hope in the only one that can satisfy. Be encouraged friends, by the message of a God who delivers. And pray for haste, for all who are dying for hope.
4 How blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust,
And has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
5 Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done,
And Your thoughts toward us;
There is none to compare with You.
If I would declare and speak of them,
They would be too numerous to count.
6 Sacrifice and meal offering You have not desired;
My ears You have opened;
Burnt offering and sin offering You have not required.
7 Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.
8 I delight to do Your will, O my God;
Your Law is within my heart.”
9 I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation;
Behold, I will not restrain my lips,
O LORD, You know.
10 I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart;
I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation;
I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.
11 You, O LORD, will not withhold Your compassion from me;
Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.
12 For evils beyond number have surrounded me;
My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see;
They are more numerous than the hairs of my head,
And my heart has failed me.
13 Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me;
Make haste, O LORD, to help me.
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