The Power of Hope
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope (Romans 15:13).
I have always loved the first signs of spring.
The earth begins waking up from its long winter nap. Daffodils and tulips, in eye-popping yellows and reds, rise from the dead to announce the days of winter are coming to a end.
And, I, for one, am always glad for that.
I would never make it in Seattle.
Seriously?
Three hundred days of cloud cover a year? I’m having a panic attack just thinking of that.
You guys who actually like gray skies and drizzly days are a mystery to me. I need to have a little sunshine on my face to feel all is well in the world.
So the moment (like today) I notice the buds on our backyard plum begin to blossom, it makes me smile.
Warmer weather, bluer skies and summer are all on their way, and there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. Soon the barren earth will be bursting forth with life.
Because the power of life always wins out over the power of death.
In Christ.
And isn’t that what our Lord is saying by mandating endless cycles of dead winter giving way to the power of spring?
Over and over and over again. Death gives way to spring, death gives way to spring…
And, if you recall, God created the seasons, after the Fall. In the paradise of God, it was endless sunshine. So by creating the seasons after the tragedy, the Lord is evangelizing the world.
God can restore.
God can renew and refresh.
God can bring life from the dead.
Broken hearts will sing again. Those crushed in spirit will one day smile again.
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy” (Isaiah 35:1-2).
Amazing but true.
The bone-dry desert earth, and the frozen-solid soil of our hearts, are no match for the resurrection power of Christ. The desert will sing, and the barren heart “will rejoice greatly.”
Spring comes again and again, and God is speaking:
Love can be rekindled.
New starts are possible.
Drudgery can give way to joy.
Spring comes and make its grand entrance into our cold and gray to remind us that whatever form of winter deadness we are currently experiencing, in Christ, we have reason to hope.
“And by the way,” the Apostle Paul writes,
“God’s hope will never lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:5).
You can’t stop spring, and you can’t stop God’s love.
No matter how dead, lifeless, and seemingly hopeless…
God’s love will prevail. And with God, all things are possible!
So look out in your backyard and spy out those branches. Check out the trees that line your streets. Look for the tender shoots pushing up out of the cold, hard ground.
God is speaking to you and to me.
It’s the season of miracles.
It’s the season of hope.
