Good news from any prophet of God? That kind of news always seemed to come in short supply from them. Popular men of Israel? No. They were like the young soldier who entered a store to cash a check near his military post. The manager said, "I need identification. Can anyone vouch for you at the post?" "Not me," he replied. "I’m the camp bugler." Prophets of God were buglers in the ears of His people.

Two themes dominate their speaking and writing: judgment and hope. Judgment came to nation or to individual: stop your sinning! Return to God! Those who listened were saved - and those who did not listen were lost. But they also proclaimed hope! Hope balanced judgment. When Israel hurt, when she went into captivity, when famine and war came crashing down on the people of God, you could be sure a prophet would surely begin to speak for God...words of hope! Words came from Isaiah. "Things will not be like this forever. Hang in there. God will not forsake His own. Your name will change from FORSAKEN and DESOLATE to MY DELIGHT IS IN HER and MARRIED!" (62.4)

Judgment and hope. We need both. Judgment calls us to remember that our actions bring about consequences. They can be final and startling. Maybe you read Parade Magazine a few years ago about Fred Abernathy. He devoted time each day to read the obituary column. All his friends knew of his habit, so one day they determined to play a joke on him. They placed his name and picture in the obituary column. When Fred saw his own obituary listed with others, he called his friend George. "Do you have the morning paper? You do? Please turn to the obituary page. You have? Look in the second column. Who do you see?" A long pause, then George blurted out, "Yikes, Fred, that’s you! By the way, Fred, where are you calling from?"

We don’t want to make light of judgment. Broken promises result in lives not lived the way God designed for us. But those same prophets knew the heart of God. They called His people to live for Him in a world needing light and hope. Judgment calls us back to God. It is the other part that I want to bring this day. Hope! We need good news, because so many we know face bad news in life.

Sometimes it is hard to hold on! Attorney General Ed Meese took over from William French Smith. Meese was warned: There would be days he would feel like the "javelin competitor in track, who won the coin toss in a football game and elected to receive."

Life is filled with those sorts of events that seem to make no sense. Dear Charlie Brown of Peanuts fame, labored through the day to build a wonderful sand castle on the beach. He did not count on the tide coming to call. In a few moments the once-beautiful castle lay flattened in the sand. Charlie looked sadly upon his artwork and reflected, "There must be a lesson here, but I don’t know what it is." We’ve all been there, haven’t we? Those are the occasions when life seems to overwhelm us.

Events can be just the camping experience that goes badly, the cake that suddenly collapses, or just a bad hair day. But we also know worse things take us into the pits of despair. The doctor emerges from the operating room. "It’s malignant. I’m afraid there is not much more we can do." The plant manager pulls your friend to the side. After twenty years he receives unwelcome news. "I’m sorry. We’ve been bought out by another company. Our whole division will be closed."

Many stories like those two sweep around us. We hope that they never hit us. Life can be hard. And it is hard to hold on. We witnessed a woman in the town of Nain who knew the taste of bad times...tough times...before. Her husband died some time ago. Now she walked in the funeral of her son. Not all of us get the benefit of a visit from Jesus. We usually bury our loved ones. If there could be healing for all...ah, that is the desire. But bad times come to us all.

Jesus brought hope that day bad news swept the town. He also brought hope to the disciples sent from John. They wanted to know if He was their answer. "Look around you. Witness what God is doing." Jesus was living out the prophecy of Isaiah! You are not forsaken or desolate. I am here to be your delight. I will be your future!

Right in the middle of bad times walks the good news of Jesus Christ. Bad Times - tough times may come. But know this: tough times never last – tough people do! Bad times may come, but God is there! He lifts our vision! It is vital that we never lose perspective! A young man, once active in sports, now lives with the confines of a wheelchair. "Do I have a future?" He asked his girl friend, grasping for something. She gave him the best response: "As a pole vaulter, no. As a man, definitely!" That shocked him. Then, he laughed! He was captured by a larger vision. Are we able to be so captured when we face bad times?

Some believe that our nation is now in bad times. The election of our President seems precarious, as press coverage whips up questions. But God is here! He is working this out! You can be sure that we are not forsaken nor desolate for lack of a president.

When I considered a title for this message, I mis-typed the word "Good" leaving one "o" off. "God News for Bad Times!" I realized that we all need God news for tough times, for those bad times will come, whether choosing a President or living through cancer.

What hope is there for us if God turns His back on us? The people of God needed a good word, and it was Isaiah who spoke up. It was our Lord Jesus who lived out those new names for His people then...and today! "I’m going to see my Jerusalem and my nation Israel once more be a torch of brilliant light in a dark world. Your name will change: Forsaken? No longer! Your new name: Hephizibah - My Delight is in her! Desolate? No more! Your new name will be one that all will note: Beulah - Married! And you can be sure that I the Lord will rejoice over you!" Christ is the good news for any bad times facing us today!

How many have felt forsaken and desolate? Peter Marshall, a preacher in my father’s generation, traveled from Scotland to America and began his service of the Lord here. He wrote his mother of how his friends thought him brave to be away from all his family. "They little know that I am never alone, for I feel that my every action is guided by Him who ordains all things for His servants, and supplies all their needs."

There is the key! God is with us! We will sing about this God who came as a baby in the next month. We can fellowship with Him right now - in any and every event we face. It is called prayer. Your prayer life can flow like your breathing! Even in bad times!

Writing in a letter to his younger son, one man laid out his hopes for him when he wondered if God cared about him in bad times. "I hope I can make your relationship with Christ so natural that it is better than any other connection. It is so natural, son, in fact 100% natural to be close to God. We will pray together until it is easy for you to put your arms on the window sill of heaven and look into His face. It is like your older brother did once with me. It was getting dark, as we walked along a country road to a farm house. He was fine until that moment when the evening light made it difficult to see. He came over to me and reached for my hand. ‘Take my hand, Daddy. I might get lost.’ My son, there is a hand reaching to you from the heart of the universe. If you will give your hand to Him and walk with Him, you will never get lost." (C. Shedd)

Consider some of these wild storms in Arkansas. If you have the presence of mind next time you are not being carried away by a tornado, look at any vines that are attached to the trunk of a tree. The violence of the storm may uproot that tree, but the vine continues to cling to it. If the storm is on the opposite side from the vine, the tree protects it. And if the storm hits directly into the vine, the wind only presses that vine closer to the tree.

In some storms of life, God intervenes and shelters us. In others He allows us to be exposed, so that we will be all the more pressed to His side and know His great strength.

God news for bad times...good news! Life is hard. But we can hold on. There is One who never forsake us. He is the one who has given us a new name...

not forsaken but MY DELIGHT IS IN HER....not desolate but MARRIED.

Jesus made sure God news is our good news for any time!