Hope in the Ordinary

Hope in the Ordinary

by Margy Tripp

From TABLETALK

A friend called and asked about my day. I sighed: “Same old, same old! Laundry, dishes, meals, and a doctor’s appointment later.” You could answer the same question with whatever fills your days—driving, your job, cleaning, meals, homework, childcare, car repairs, home maintenance, appointments, shopping, laundry, milking the cow, weeding, mowing—you fill in the blank. Ninety-nine percent of life is taken up with the ordinary. Our daily responsibilities can feel like my reply: “Same old, same old.” Daily routines, along with the attending interruptions and inconveniences, can all seem unimportant. In fact, we often look for the moments when we can escape. A night out, a party, or an unexpected visit or phone call can seem like a breath of fresh air, more meaningful and important than our daily treadmill.

But there is spiritual danger that dogs the ordinary. We grow accustomed to daily routines. They can begin to feel insignificant. That’s how the world interprets the routines of daily life, as ho-hum—boring, meaningless, and without purpose. Here’s the danger. We can become complacent over how we think about daily life. And of course, how we think shapes the way that we respond. You hear that in my weary reply to my friend. What was missing in my response? I believe that it was the unseen world of spiritual reality. My eyes focused only on the mundane tasks at hand. I was like Peter walking on the water: “Oh, no! I’m going down!” My spiritual eyes were closed.

The unseen world, from which God dispenses His love and care through His Son, is the storehouse of hope for His people. Our hope for our daily lives, our hope for trials, our hope for the future and for eternity flow from that unseen world. We cannot accurately understand or interpret our experience of life without reference to the unseen world of spiritual reality. Our hope for living robust and meaningful lives is gutted of its power without reference to this unseen world. We fall into lackluster daily living. Sadly, biblical hope is often a casualty when we miss the role that our daily, ordinary lives play in God’s plan.

Biblical hope isn’t wishful thinking. Biblical hope has Christ’s incarnation, perfect life, atoning death, and resurrection stamped on it by God’s acceptance of His work (Heb. 6:19–20). It is present hope (1 Tim. 6:17), future hope (Jer. 29:11), and eternal hope (2 Thess. 2:16–17; Titus 1:1–3; 3:4–7). It is sure hope (Heb. 6:13–19) and living hope (1 Peter 1:3–5, 13; see 1 Tim. 4:10; 6:17). Biblical hope is essential for transforming the ordinary routines of life into extraordinary opportunities to practice our faith. Hope in Christ allows us to live ordinary lives in this seen world, the world that we can see and touch and feel, with one foot securely planted in the unseen world.

Biblical hope is essential for transforming the ordinary routines of life into extraordinary opportunities to practice our faith.

Scripture unfolds the unseen world of spiritual reality from Genesis to Revelation. Consider David the shepherd boy. What could be more mundane than tending sheep in the wilderness? But it was in the context of his mundane work as a shepherd that David learned to focus on the unseen world. He ruminated on the history of Israel. He rehearsed the Hebrew Scriptures that he had been taught. He considered who the Lord is and what that meant for his life. Hope for the present, for the future, and for all eternity sprang to life as David applied his faith to daily life. His faith was strengthened and informed during those lonely days. His pursuit of God as a shepherd shaped all his daily responses in the wilderness and prepared him for the dramatic episodes to come. How David thought about his daily experience of life drove his use of and response to daily opportunities. In fact, David used his ordinary life as a shepherd to bring powerful spiritual truth to us in the Psalms. David would not have been equipped to face the bear, the lion, or Goliath if his routine days in the wilderness were not suffused with spiritual vitality. It wasn’t wasted or insignificant time. His ordinary experiences had a profound role in his life. They drew him near to God. They strengthened his faith. They hardened his resolve in the face of the jeers of Saul and his brothers. They laughed at his courage and taunted him to go back to his sheep in the wilderness. They scorned his common work. They didn’t understand the power of David’s spiritual fervor in his ordinary life. His heroism wasn’t a one-off. It was rehearsed day in and day out by his constant connection to the unseen world. Our daily lives are profound opportunities to practice our faith. That’s God’s plan. Our daily routines are the training ground for applying gospel hope, the unseen world, to life. Hope in God is the propellant that fuels our journey to the Celestial City.

There are scores of narratives in the Old and New Testaments whereby God’s people exhibited hope in the ordinary that made them strong for their battles. What enabled the Hebrew children to face the fiery furnace (Dan. 3)? What emboldened Naaman’s servant girl in captivity (2 Kings 5)? What gave Elisha confidence when surrounded by the enemy (ch. 6)? It was hope, hope not in circumstances but in God’s promise and provision. Where did hope in those heroic moments come from? It didn’t spring from nothing. They didn’t ask themselves, “Now, what was it that the Lord promised my forefathers?” Their daily experience of life was marked by singing and rehearsing the unseen world. They practiced access to the unseen world in their ordinary tasks. This transformed their experience of daily life, preparing them to keep their joys and sorrows and their triumphs and defeats in spiritual perspective.

When our children were teens, we wanted to prepare them for temptations that they would face. We would ask, “What will you say when your friends suggest something that you know will not honor God or keep you spiritually safe?” They would suggest possible answers. Then we would say: “Let’s rehearse. I’ll be your friend. We want you to practice your answer out loud so that it is not a novel experience for you when you’re in the heat of the moment.” That’s what daily connection with the unseen world is like. It not only prepares your heart and lips with the joy and satisfaction that truth brings in the moment but readies your soul and your sinews for the hills and valleys of life.

Margy Tripp is a biblical counselor, conference speaker, and author of It’s Not Too Late: Restoring Broken Relationships with Teenage and Adult Children.

Hope in the Ordinary

Fairfield Church, PCA