I wrote recently that I was learning to play the piano again, implying by my words that I wasn’t completely certain the outcome would be successful.  The jury is still out on that question.

I have found some fodder for thought in the process, though.  Just tonight, as I sat at the still out-of-tune grand piano, I played a few notes of an old song I first heard in my teen years.  It wasn’t in any hymnal I ever sang from, but had been recorded a decade or two before then by a country singer of some renown.

The song is titled “Whispering Hope.”

I didn’t like the song so much.  In retrospect, I think I never really considered the message.

Who needed hope, especially the kind that whispered, when you had the dreams of youth?  I was going to live forever!

The future was bright, with no clouds to dim the sun.

There are clouds now.  And winter seems about to set in.  I know I’m not the only one who feels it—the darkness and the bitter, biting wind.

And yet, there is still a voice that whispers hope in my ears—every day.

Perhaps you’ve heard it.

Perhaps, you’re still waiting.

But there’s no need to wait.  If you belong to God, hope—bright hope—has always been His promise.

“Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”  (Romans 5:5, NKJV)

In the bright glare of the sunlight, hope will be our shade.

In the dim shadow of gathering night, hope lights the narrow path ahead.

In the frigid cold of the deepest winter, hope lends warmth to the despairing soul.

It’s a promise.

And, He keeps His promises.

Still.

 

“If in the dusk of the twilight,
Dim be the region afar,
Will not the deepening darkness
Brighten the glimmering star?
Then when the night is upon us,
Why should the heart sink away?
When the dark midnight is over,
Watch for the breaking of day.

Whispering Hope
O how welcome thy voice,
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.”
(from Whispering Hope by Septimus Winner [1868])