Hope in Sorrow

The Source of Hope
Zechariah 6-10
9:9:  Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with Salvation, Humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
It has been almost two months since my last devotional.  In this time, my life has been turned upside down through the death of Becky.  Two and a half years ago we were told this day would come and that the cancer would eventually win and it would bring its destructive force.  From that day forward, we lived with this cloud over us.  Yet there was nothing that prepared us for the depth of pain it would bring when it finally gained the victory of its deadly grip.  Until that final day, death was still abstract and impersonal, something out there but something we seemed to be able to ignore.  But death always seems to win as the inevitable happens.  When death finally came and Becky breathed her last, the pain of loss became unbearable.  The pain of losing a spouse was unlike any pain and sorrow I had ever experienced.  Only those who have gone through the journey can fully relate to the emptiness and loneliness one experiences when a spouse is suddenly removed from this world.  Even the assurance of her presence in heaven does not dull the pain and emptiness.  It reminds us that life is temporary and that death is the ultimate pain and consequence of the Adamic fall.  In times such as these, we cry for hope and for some sense of healing.
But the pain we feel in the death of a spouse and loved one is not unique to us.  It has been felt by every individual who has ever walked the face of the earth.  It was a pain that Israel experienced when the invading hordes of Babylon brought death, suffering, and exile to the people.  However, just when it seems that there is no hope, Zechariah gives them a prophecy of hope.  Even though they had turned their back upon God and made their hearts lie flint so that they could not hear the law (7:12), God still responded with grace and salvation.  In the midst of their sorrow and pain, he tells them not to fear, for God will again restore the nation 8:15 and will bring them back to the land.  But then he makes an even more incredible prediction, one that would provide the basis for our hope today.  Their hope was in the arrival of a new King, one who “is just and endowed with salvation.”  He will be unlike the kings of the earth, for he will come as one who is humble in order that he might bring salvation.  The words of Zechariah 9:9 would be realized in the triumphant entry of Christ (Mt. 21:5).  
The one who would give hope to Israel, is the one who gives hope for us today.  For he would not only come as the king to restore Israel, but he came as the savior to give us the hope of eternity.  When we trust in him, death is no longer the great destroyer, for it has been defeated (1 Cor: 15:56-57).  It does not dull the pain of our loss, but Christ’s salvation gives us the hope of eternity.  Our grief and sorrow, while seemingly unbearable and overwhelming at times, is only temporary, for there is the promise of eternal life.  We still grieve the lose but now we grief with the hope that we will see them again because of what Christ has done (1 Thess. 4:12-18).