Rest for Your Soul

A Blog on the Hope of Spring

Are you feeling weary, child of God? Has the brokenness of this world left you discouraged and tired?

In C.S. Lewis’s classic book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe, the magical land of Narnia labors under the fierce reign of the White Witch. In Narnia, as Mr. Tumnus explains to Lucy on her first journey into the wardrobe, it is always winter, but never Christmas. Winter without the hope of spring – that’s the bitter reality of Narnia without Aslan.

That feeling of “always winter, but never Christmas” feels immensely relatable in 2021, doesn’t it? Perhaps, like me, you’ve heard heartbreaking news of marriages failing, once-professing Christians walking away from their faith, children rebelling, or friendships falling away. We see cultural changes that could mean difficult times for Christians in the future, and we see people we love stepping into eternity.

With all of these painful realities around us, something inside us groans. “How long, Oh Lord?” we pray. How long until the wrong things are made right and the pain of this world resolves into the glory of a redeemed Creation? How long until we have spring again?

But there is hope. Even in the midst of a long, dreary winter, there is light in the darkness.

And it’s found in the Word of God.

Light in Darkness

In Genesis 1:3, we read these words:

“And God said, Let there be light! And there was light.”

Let’s pause and imagine that moment. When God spoke, light came where there had been only darkness before. And of course, it didn’t end there. God spoke into existence the sky and the water, the celestial bodies, the dry ground and the seas, the fish and the birds, the plants and the animals. He created man out of the dust of the ground. A world teeming with life, from nothing.

At God’s word, it was so.

In the New Testament, we see the Word embodied in human flesh. When Jesus spoke, bodies healed. Hungry people were fed. Dead people began to breathe. 

That’s the power in the Word of God, and it’s available to us every single day. Each time we pick up our Bibles, we receive God’s inspired words to us. Not just ancient texts. Not just human writings. Not just someone’s ideas about what God has said.

In truth, the very words of God.

Words for Our Pain

That reality should leave us trembling in awe. It should drive us to the pages of Scripture for answers to our questions and help for our struggles. In the pages of God’s Word, we find comfort, hope, instruction, admonition, and encouragement.

Consider just a few of the words that God speaks into our pain:

• Matthew 11:28-30 – Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
• Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• Isaiah 49:13-16 – Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted His people and will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, The Lord has forsaken me. My Lord has forgotten me. Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.

Jesus calls out, “Come to me when you are hurting! Come join your yoke to mine and you will find rest!”

When you feel alone and forsaken, you are not. When it feels like evil is winning, it is not. God has not, will not, and cannot forget you. You are not alone, child of God! God’s powerful right hand upholds you and there is no cause for fear.

Just as Lewis portrayed in the imagined world of Narnia, spring serves as a visual, tangible reminder that winter does not last forever. Even though it may seem like darkness is choking out the light, hope is all around us and it is found in God’s words.

As we’ve finished this Easter season, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ and His victory over sin and the grave, may we remember that God has redeemed us from the power of sin both in an eternal sense and in our immediate, day-by-day experience. God’s powerful Word, which brought light out of darkness, is still bringing light out of darkness today.