It must be rather interesting to be the first person to sail around a newly found island and have the fun of giving names to all its coves and corners. Perhaps just for fun you have given meaningful names to special places near your home. I certainly have, and the names I chose remain in my secret memory.
A few hundred years ago, an unknown sailor made his way around the large island called Newfoundland on the east coast of Canada. He was a Frenchman, and perhaps it had been a rather rough voyage. Was it fresh water he needed, or a food supply, or did he just want to satisfy his curiosity that it was really an island? We don’t really know. But I have felt all those things myself, and I understand how eagerly he rounded that peninsula and hoped for something good on the other side. He named that point “Cap d’Espoir,” or Cape of Hope.
It makes me think of my young friend Hanna whom I met recently. She seemed to be just at the tip of Cap d’Espoir. She told me that she had just graduated from college.
“What’s next?” I asked her.
“I don’t know. Something good!”
The future looked rosy for her.
But you will not find Cap d’Espoir on the map of Newfoundland today. It has another name. The name of that point is Cape Despair. Perhaps it was a mispronunciation by English settlers. In any case, most of us know that getting what we want does not satisfy us for very long. Rounding the corner of Cape of Hope leads sooner or later to Cape Despair.
But why face it now? Because now is the time to come to the only One who can satisfy your heart. The Lord Jesus does not smooth over the problems. He knows that the wages of sin is death, and He has been through death in its most dreadful form, not for His own sins, for He is God’s sinless Son. He suffered under the hand of God for my sins, and His blessings are far above all that I can ask or think. If you will accept His loving offer of forgiveness for your sins, you will never find that Cape Despair is the end of the road. Hope in Christ grows brighter and stronger the closer we come to heaven. If your Cap d’Espoir is without Christ, it will certainly turn to Cape Despair. “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:1919Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; (Hebrews 6:19)).
The motto of Newfoundland has good advice - “Quaerite Prime Regnum Dei,” or, “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God.” It is taken from the Bible verse that says, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Matthew 6:3333But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Matthew 6:33)). If you will follow that wise counsel, you will never have to fear Cape Despair.
ML-08/03/1997