I have just been given a serious diagnosis and I do not know what to do with it. Where do people find hope when the news is this bad?

“Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD, And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.”

Hezekiah, king of Judah, is told by the prophet Isaiah to set his house in order because he will not recover. His first response is not composure. He turns his face to the wall and weeps bitterly, and then he prays. Scripture records the weeping without apology or comment, which tells you something about what a faithful first reaction to terrible news is allowed to look like.

“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

Jesus said this to his closest friends within hours of his arrest, knowing exactly what was coming for him and for them. He does not tell them things will go well. He tells them plainly that in this world they will have trouble, and then offers himself as the reason for courage anyway. The hope on offer here is not optimism about the outcome.