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WEEKLY ENCOURAGEMENT
Updated: Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Miracle of Spring
The dead, barren ground begins bursting forth with beautiful colors of new life and we see the miracle of spring. The leaves and blooms of many outdoor plants fall off in the fall and winter months. For some plants, only their buried bulbs remain. Yet, if we assume there is no life or that the plant is dead, our assumption would be wrong. Based only upon what is visible in the winter, we would not expect spring.
How prone we are to draw spiritual conclusions based only upon what we see. We have been praying for months or perhaps years for a friend or loved one to come to Christ. As of yet, we see no change in them and may thus conclude nothing of spiritual nature is going on. We forget that we can not know the heart or thoughts of another person. Our faith in our Lord to answer our prayers is tested. I would like to encourage your heart with an example from our work here in Germany.
One of our women prayed twenty-four years for her husband to be saved. He attended church once or twice a year, but appeared to have little interest. Two weeks before her death from cancer, her husband accepted the Lord as his personal Savior. Later, I asked him about how he came to this decision.
He explained that the Lord had clearly convicted him of his spiritual need on two previous occasions. Each time he had said "No", and rejected the Lord. Through divine instigated circumstances and the convicting of the Holy Spirit, he finally submitted his will and said "yes".
What we need to notice is, the Lord was dealing with this man clearly and personally although his wife could not "see" it. She did not physically see the spiritual work going on. We do not see the life in a plant during the winter, but it is there. We all rejoiced when the "hidden spiritual activity" became visible for all of us to see.
As we celebrate Easter, we are reminded of another example of hidden spiritual activity. Satan, the people of Jerusalem, and the followers of Jesus Christ, watched Him be crucified and buried in a tomb. For three days the assumption was that His life was over.
How wrong they were. Christ was very much alive and about spiritual business. Three days after His crucifixion, all saw the victorious, living Son of God. Based on our resurrected Lord we can have new life and the assurance that He is always at work. He has promised to hear and answer our prayers and He is absolutely faithful. Do not give up praying just because you have not yet seen signs of "spring".
I wish each of you a blessed and joyful Easter as we commemorate the miraculous, triumphant resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
POINT TO PONDER:How often do you become discouraged because you do not see physical evidence of God's working?
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- Sandy Hastings |
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