Just a castaway
An island lost at sea
Another lonely day
With no one here but me
More loneliness
Than any man could bear
Rescue me before I fall into despair
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle
Have you ever felt this way – Lonely and in so much despair that you thought you needed to send out a virtual, if not literal, message in a bottle, begging for help, pleading with some ship out on the ocean to turn towards the beach and save you? I love the picture painted by this song from 1979 called Message in a Bottle by the Police.
I have definitely gone through seasons in my life where I have identified with these feelings and this song. I know that many of you can also think of a time when you were probably surrounded by people who loved you dearly, but you still felt alone. Obviously many others feel this way because it was a worldwide hit song and is still played today (and was used in a Rugrats movie!).
The picture this song paints is pretty bleak, but also seems hopeful.
A year has passed since I wrote my note
But I should have known this right from the startOnly hope can keep me together
Love can mend your life
But love can break your heart
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle
Have you been there as well – full of hope that love of your job, family, friends, hobbies, food, drink or pleasure would fill that void? Those things certainly can fill the hole in your heart a little, but they also anesthetize, filling up your heart with emptiness. These things of the world are excellent at distracting us from looking to see if anybody was showing up on the beach. By cramming more of these things into our Facebook, and Insta feed, we can look like we are fulfilled all the while living “lives of quiet desperation” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden). Maybe, if we are lucky, an entire year goes by before we think about throwing another bottle into the ocean.
I said hopeful, right? Well, yes, there is hope, but it does not come from filling that hole with the wrong things. Doing that leads to the final verse of the song.
Walked out this morning
Don’t believe what I saw
A hundred billion bottles
Washed up on the shore
Seems I’m not alone at being alone
A hundred billion casatways
Looking for a home
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I’ll send an SOS to the world
I hope that someone gets my
Message in a bottle
This is exactly what we have today, a world filled with castaways, maybe not a 100 billion, but a bunch, looking for a home.
“So where is all this hope you are talking about?”
Let me tell you, there is absolutely only one thing that can fill that hole – putting your faith in the Lord. There is only one person that is going to receive that bottle and show up on that beach – Jesus Christ. He has received every bottle that has ever been or ever will be chucked into the ocean. He has shown up on the beach time and time again. The question is, did we have enough faith go out to check and see?
28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
17 The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
20b behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.
The Hope Report 