When You NEED Spring to Come

The snow is almost completely melted. Normally, that would make me a little sad. I love the snow, and we don’t get to experience it very often here in the south. But after almost a week of subzero wind chills, slippery conditions, rolling blackouts, and dreary gray skies, I’m suddenly ready for spring. I’m ready to feel the sunshine warm my face, to see the pansies, daffodils, and dogwoods show off, and to wake up to the songs of happy birds. I’m ready to not have to brace myself for the shock of cold every time I walk out the door. Based on my observations and conversations, I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one. We’re all ready for spring. Literally, and metaphorically.

For the last year, we’ve been living through an extra dreary and unfriendly season of life. It feels like we’ve been constantly bracing ourselves against cold judgements, angry assumptions, and fearful circumstances. We’re doing our best to bundle up and keep going, but if we’re honest, it’s confusing and exhausting. It’s hard not to let our own hearts grow cold and hopeless in the process. We NEED spring to come... to our hearts. But how?

“For as the earth bursts with spring wildflowers,
and as a garden cascades with blossoms,
So the Master, God, brings righteousness into full bloom
and puts praise on display before the nations.” Isaiah 61:11 - The Message

This verse caught my attention this week. It stirred something up in my heart, and I decided to dig just a little deeper to see what might be underneath. I turned to someone older and wiser than myself- like, MUCH older, and MUCH wiser. Charles Spurgeon. He preached an entire sermon on this verse in March of 1873. Apparently his audience needed to be reminded of the hope of spring as much as we do today.

“Despite the times of depression and of sorrow, days of refreshing must come from the Presence of the Lord. The spring must follow the winter. If at any time our mind should grow desponding concerning the progress of the Gospel and I confess mine is very heavy at times, it ought to encourage us to remember that the Gospel will conquer, not because it looks as if it would, but because God has declared and decreed that it shall do so!

God needs no helpers to create Spring—He sends it in His own time, and lo it comes! Spring has never lingered until assembled Parliaments have permitted and commanded its coming. Neither has it waited for Emperors to smile, and say—"Let the buds come forth.” The daffodils are blooming in the meadows where no man planted them and the bluebells in the dells where gardener's spade has (never) come. Yes, and I know right well that the dew of Divine Grace and the showers of regenerating love... (do not) wait for the sons of men. If there had been a general revolt against Spring it would not have been delayed. If the kings of the earth had set themselves and the rulers taken counsel together, no single gleam of sunlight would have hesitated to shine forth.”

I confess I don’t read too many sermons from 1873. I tend to think they’re probably a little dusty, and maybe just a little outdated. But when I read this vivid description of how God’s overpowering grace is at work in the midst of overwhelming circumstances? It literally gave me goosebumps. It’s normal to be afraid when things look and feel out of control or confusing in the world. But if we can’t even keep a single beam of sunlight from shining (and we we certainly can’t make it shine any brighter) what makes us tiny humans think we can make or break God’s plan?

For those of you whose eyes glazed over a few paragraphs ago, here’s the TL;DR (too long; didn’t read) version- from Spurgeon himself:

“God is alive and God is at work—He has not betaken Himself into His secret chambers and shut the door behind Him and left us orphans in the world—and the earth without a Ruler and without a Friend!”

No matter how cold and gray today looks, spring is coming. Because God said so. And there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. 

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash