There’s a very beautiful story about a very beautiful lady. Her name is Cinderella. But Cinderella was made to feel ugly. She lived with a wicked stepmother and two equally wicked sisters. Cinderella was made to live as a slave. Now, she was beautiful, but she didn’t feel beautiful. She didn’t think about herself as beautiful, because she was influenced by a wicked environment that put her down, messed over her, and reduced her to nothing. The problem with Cinderella was that she was stuck there. She was locked in the situation, and for a long time, she could not get out of it.
You’ve heard the story. You know about the ball, and that through a series of miraculous interventions, she was transported to the ball in a chariot. There she met a prince. The prince saw Cinderella, and loved her. But the problem in the story, as you know, is that the clock struck midnight. When the clock hit midnight, she reverted back to her old self. She became a slave again to an evil stepmother and two evil stepsisters.
The good part of Cinderella’s story, though, is that the prince never forgot her. Even though there had been a lot of people at the ball, there was something about her that made her stand out from the crowd. She was special. She was unique. She was rare. Everyone wanted the prince, but the prince wanted Cinderella.
All he had to work with in order to find her again, though, was a shoe that she had left behind. If he could find the foot that fit the shoe, he would have found Cinderella. So he set out going house to house in search of his treasure. After a long and hard search, the prince finally found Cinderella. And, as the story goes, they lived happily ever after.
A lot of people today are living like Cinderella. They are influenced by a wicked stepmother, the Devil, who’s got two wicked daughters: the world and the flesh. Living as slaves in a hostage situation, many individuals feel trapped in a hopeless scenario. Perhaps this describes you in some way. Maybe you thought you would be further along than you are right now. Maybe you had a brighter dream for how your family would be, or your career, relationships – all of it. Maybe you even met the Prince of Peace, and He saved you, some time ago – but you have found yourself living again in bondage. That could mean emotional bondage, spiritual bondage or even physical bondage.
It is easy to lose heart when you see no end in sight to what appears to be a hopeless situation. But what I want to remind you is that there is hope. Jesus knows right where you are, and He knows how long you’ve been there. He has a way out of any hopelessness you may feel or even legitimately experience.
He doesn’t just want to bring His money to you, His castle to you, or His chariot to you. He wants to take you out of the bondage that you feel, and let you live in the freedom of His presence and provision. He wants to show you your new position, your new glory, and your new hope. He wants to get you out of a spirit of slavery. He just doesn’t want to buy you new clothes, buy you new shoes, or buy you a new car; He wants to give you a new hope.
Suppose Cinderella had given up. Suppose she had resolved to stay locked away in a cold, darkened room. She would have never experienced being found by the Prince and trying on her own shoe. She would have missed out on living out her destiny.
A lot of us have not had our blessings come through to us because we have given up on God. We have counted the years where it seems that our prayers have not been answered and we have determined that there is no more hope. Too many times we miss out on the destiny God has for us because we have stopped looking. We have stopped hoping.
Yet what I want to remind you today is that there is always hope.
Sometimes God allows situations in our lives that are beyond our power to fix so that we will experience Him in the midst of the scenario. At times, God will let you hit rock bottom so that you can discover that He is the rock at the bottom. If you put your hope in Him, I promise you that you will not be disappointed. In fact, better than that, God promises you in Isaiah 40:31. Go ahead, you can take Him at His Word.
For His Kingdom,
Tony Evans
The Urban Alternative
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