Listen:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NIV)
Reflect:
Hope. What is it? Is it something that’s secure? Or just another word for ‘wish’ or ‘optimism’? Hope, for the Christian, is described in Hebrews 6:19 as ‘an anchor for the soul, firm and secure, fixed in eternity’. “Optimism drops its anchor into the depths of trouble but cannot find the bottom. Hope drops its anchor into the depths of trouble and finds eternity” (from Every Day with Jesus, Selwyn Hughes, 2007, Days 32-34).
Mary Magdalene was a woman who had spent years looking into the depths of trouble and pain, thought she had found hope in Jesus, only to have it snatched away. She’s a woman who had lived through periods of intense fear and crippling loneliness; but from the moment Jesus freed her she followed Him wherever He went (Luke 8).
Then her world fell apart. She had put her hope in Jesus and now He was dead. What was she going to do now? Would she end up back in despair? Some of you know what she was feeling….not just despair, but an overwhelming sense of complete powerlessness – which is the enemy of hope. We’ve all been at this point but we don’t have to stay there, because hope is not an absence of sorrow, but rather hope is a refusal to allow powerlessness to shake your confidence in God.
Outside His tomb, the risen Jesus came over and said one word: “Mary.” And suddenly when she looked at Him, she saw hope, which moved her past that dark moment and freed her from the paralysis that hopelessness and powerlessness otherwise becomes. Now she could run shouting the good news, “I have seen the Lord!”
Prayer of Response:
Jesus, you know my trouble. Show me the way I should go, as I trust in you to take my powerlessness and transform it to hope. (based on Psalm 143:8)
Questions to Ponder:
- Reflecting on Romans 15:13 (above): Can the God of hope fill me with all joy and peace in the place where I feel powerless at the moment?
- Can I trust in Him, so that I overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?
—Submitted by Audrey Jose
Audrey has served with Lifesprings from the very start, and is the Team Leader for Lifesprings’ conflict training. She and her husband are involved in church planting and offer coaching, expertise and opportunities worldwide for mission and church partnerships through Radstock Ministries (www.radstock.org)).