Good news for the countryside: We all need hope

​Farmers need to be hopeful people, for there are any number of things that can knock the heart out of us.

Such as a difficult and disappointing lambing season, or if our cattle herd is closed because of TB. Up-and-down prices for what we produce creates a climate of uncertainty, while many months of wet weather have taken their toll on crops, livestock and farmers alike. Profits have slumped. Costs have sky-rocketed, and all this has ramped up the huge mental health pressures of stress - even hopelessness.

So, what keeps us going, farming? What keeps us producing world-class beef, lamb, milk, grain and vegetables, for example? Why do we brave all these, and a posse of other unpleasant challenges, to faithfully carry on, caring for our livestock, crops and environment? One word: Hope. We all need hope.

In God’s Word, the Bible, we meet a man and his family, who also needed sure and certain hope. The man’s name is Noah. Now Noah, and his family, had been rescued in the ark, a cargo ship-cum-lifeboat, that God had instructed him to build. When the flood subsided, Noah left the ark and offered sacrifices to God, giving thanks for rescuing him and his family. They also committed themselves to Him.

God responded with golden promises, never again to destroy the earth with a flood and to always provide a harvest for the world. “Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and … offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelt the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground because of man … Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease’” (Genesis 8:20-22.)

To help us remember His promises of hope, God gave a sign. He wrote it in the sky, so that we cannot miss it, guaranteeing “When … the rainbow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature...the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh” (Genesis 9:14-15). Hope. Hope for Noah. And hope for us.

Living as we do in a fallen-from-God, messed-up world, there are no perfect fixes here and now. We will continue to have wet seasons. At times we will all still face stomach-churning worry and head-splitting pressure. But let’s return to our rainbow. In what direction does the bow face? It arches upwards – towards Heaven.

The message? On the cross, God sent His arrows of judgment for His people’s sin, upon His Son Jesus. So that His bow of judgment, and its piercing arrows, would not have to be pointed at us for our sin. The Bible

explains, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8).

I pray that whatever steals hope from your heart, you will consider putting your trust in God’s Son Jesus. For it is only Jesus who can bring us heaven’s eternal hope. And God’s deep-clean forgiveness.

Now, if you already trust in Jesus, you know exactly what I’m talking about. May Jesus’ hope lift your heart today, and tomorrow. And may heaven’s hope overflow from you to others.

If this is something you would like to talk about, or you would just like to rest your weary feet and have a break, you would be very welcome to join us at the Dromore Presbytery Stand at this year’s Balmoral Show: Eikon Centre, EK46.

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Rev Kenny Hanna is the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s first Rural Chaplain. Growing up on the family farm in the Kingdom of Mourne, he began serving in parish ministry in 2001 in Glenwherry. Prior to his appointment as Rural Chaplain, he was minister of Second Dromara Presbyterian Church for 10 years. He continues to farm part-time.

If you would like to talk to someone about any of the issues raised in this article, please email Kenny at [email protected] or call him on 07938 488 372.