There is Hope
I was watching a movie recently, and there was a line that struck me: “Where there is life, there is hope.” It reminded me that where there is Jesus, there is hope. Jesus is life (John 1:1-5) and if our life is found in him (Romans 6:4,8), we have hope…a hope that will not die.
This time of year often awakens within me pictures of this same hope. God has placed this hope all around us. Though winter is frigid and biting and brings with it a type of death, in just a short time, it will give way to spring. That which seems to be dead will actually give way to a resurrection, if you will. That which is buried deep in the trees and their roots, that which is hidden under the frozen soil of the ground, is being washed and baptized by the rain and snow. And in the spring, it will come to life again with a breath-taking vibrancy and beauty that will speak nothing of its apparent death but everything of its life—a life that could NOT have happened of its own doing.
Within the very framework of the nature God has put all around us, He prophetically placed the message of hope that He would one day fulfill in Christ, and has now already done so through the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Now, it is a constant reminder of what He has done for us and in us and what He can continue to do for us in our circumstances.
We are never without hope because we are never without Him. And I feel as if lately, it has been on His heart and on His mind to revive in us this message of hope…to remind us that He is here with us and He can still do the impossible—bring new life to that which seems dead.
On more than one occasion lately, the Father has caused the following scriptures, and the ideas found there, to stand out: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen, the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.” Isaiah 43:18-21
And I feel as if the message here is this: Though the last few years have been like a winter, or like a dry desert, we have hope. God is doing a new thing. HE is causing the season in our lives to change. God is making a way in our spiritual wilderness. He’s bringing refreshing. And He is bringing new life.
It would be easy to dwell on the difficulties, but God says “no”. It is time to move on. And we are not just to move on into an unknown, vast, and uncertain future, but we are moving on into His promise, a promise that says God is making a way in our circumstances.
Today, grasp onto this HOPE. Don’t let go of it. God is doing a new thing. Don’t let go.
Katie Botello
FBC Aztec Member