The Anchor of Our Hope
I’m watching a train wreck. I’m watching, not with the macabre fascination that we generally have toward calamities, but in near panic and bewilderment. It’s not a YouTube of some random wreck that I can gasp at in surprise while being secretly entertained. No, this train wreck is close by. My friends and family are riding it. The whole thing is coming off the rails and the crowd in the station is cheering on the destruction.
Panic, bewilderment, and outrage. The scenes of the train wreck roll before me wherever I look:
- Protestors demonizing peace officers, their contempt and lawlessness affirmed with impunity by politicians and press alike.
- Officers who risk everything to do their jobs and then are accused unjustly, without due process, by politicians greedy for their own advancement of power.
- A friend being told that it was “grotesque” that they had once been a law enforcement officer.
The sheer injustice of it all makes my blood boil.
Even after I made the decision to resign from my position as a law enforcement officer, I’ve second-guessed that decision many times. But ultimately, I trusted that I was following the Lord’s direction in that decision, even though I did not understand the timing of it. During the time I pursued a career as an officer, my family was extremely supportive, and while there were times I was scared for my safety, I ultimately trusted that the Lord would keep me safe because that was where He had called me to be in that particular season of my life.
This past week was the first time I was honestly grateful I no longer wore the badge and uniform. Not because of the profession itself, but because of the overwhelming lack of support towards law enforcement and the visceral hatred currently exhibited towards that profession by individuals who have absolutely no idea what an officer faces during a shift or the split-second, life-altering decisions an officer may have to make depending on how an incident might play out. Law enforcement is difficult enough to do even when city leadership supports us. I can’t imagine what it would be like having to risk my life in public service under the leadership of politicians who would rather pander to public opinion instead of maintaining public safety. Having a deep discussion this weekend with my dad regarding everything going on, he expressed to me that this past week was the first time he has ever had the thought that he was glad I was not a cop anymore. He too could not fathom what it would be like to work in that profession with the current political climate. The time he took to expound upon the fact that God has a reason for the timing of everything in our lives was the gentle reminder of truth I needed to hear.
So how do I process and deal with this deep of a heartache for my fellow brothers and sisters in blue? I pray. I pray for those who are risking their lives, I pray for those who are in leadership to be convicted of sin, righteousness, and judgement. I pray that justice and mercy are upheld. I pray that the Lord would soften the hard-hearted. I remind myself that I need to put on the whole armor of God so that I may be able to withstand against the attacks of the enemy and not be overcome with his lies (Eph. 6:10-19). And ultimately, I get through this because of the hope I have in the Lord. I know the end of the story.
Jesus has already conquered all of this mess. One day we shall see that in a very real and tangible way when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord of all. This hope is not wishful thinking, but rather the expectancy that is firmly and gladly (dare I say, optimistically) held in the prospect of a future good. We are reminded of this hope in Hebrews 6:17-20, which in the Amplified Bible reads:
17 “In the same way God, in His desire to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable nature of His purpose, intervened and guaranteed it with an oath, 18 so that by two unchangeable things [His promise and His oath] in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled [to Him] for refuge would have strong encouragement and indwelling strength to hold tightly to the hope set before us. 19 This hope [this confident assurance] we have as an anchor of the soul [it cannot slip and it cannot break down under whatever pressure bears upon it]—a safe and steadfast hope that enters within the veil [of the heavenly temple, that most Holy Place in which the very presence of God dwells], 20 where Jesus has entered [in advance] as a forerunner for us, having become a High Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
So, despite the chaos surrounding us, I can still choose to be grateful because I stand in the hope of better things to come and that one day, truth, justice, and mercy will once again be reestablished here on this earth.
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