Imagine waking up to a day where the future is unknown—where the struggle to survive is intense and the odds are against you?

Imagine if your husband, wife, or three year-old child were to became gravely ill and receive a diagnoses that is essentially a death sentence? I once knew a woman who was diagnosed with inoperable Melanoma who was told that she had three to five years to live. Can you imagine receiving such news? Every priority and goal in your life would change.

She has since died, about three years after her diagnosis. I attended her funeral and joined her other friends who tried to bring comfort to her four young adult children.

When David sinned against God, himself and Bathsheba, he suddenly found himself devoid of hope and was overwhelmed with the thought of living a joyless life. How could he live with the future being so dark and foreboding?

Sometimes we underestimate the effect that hope and joy has in our lives until it’s gone.

What would you miss most if you suddenly learned (and it were true) that the story of Jesus was a myth and that he wasn’t coming back to rescue anyone? Would you be overwhelmed with fear? Would you be sad?

The thing that brought hope back into David’s life was the assurance that his sin was forgiven.

“Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin…Oh, give me back my joy again…Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you” (Psalm 51:1,2,7,8,12, NLT).

Rich DuBose writes from Northern California.

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