The Thrill of Hope
One of my favorite places in Charlotte is Four Mile Creek Greenway off Rea Road. If you have not been, I highly recommend you check it out. You can find me out there most every Saturday morning. I absolutely love it. I love the miles of beautiful trail through God’s amazing creation. My favorite time to go is just after sunrise when the world is waking up and the birds are singing their good morning songs for anyone lucky enough to hear.
I had the opportunity to go to the greenway last Friday morning. It was later in the morning, and since it was a weekday, I had most of the greenway to myself, which was nice. Nature and solitude are my reset buttons, so I thoroughly enjoyed it. As I was walking, I noticed a female cardinal in a pool of gross muddy water next to the path. This bird was jumping and splashing around just as happy as can be. She kept diving into the disgusting water and letting it wash over her head and run down her back as if she wanted to be completely covered by it. This is the kind of thing that I would normally stop and take a picture or video of, but I was much too concerned about my average pace to do so on this particular day.
As I walked on, I noticed another mound of nasty mud with a small flower growing out of it. The greenway runs parallel with a creek and over a marsh in a few places, so when it rains, it often floods and gets quite muddy in places. As it dries up, little mounds of mud form on the sides of the trail, and this was one of those mounds. I couldn’t help but notice the brilliant shade of purple on the petals of the flower that was growing out of this mud and muck. It’s beauty and brilliance were quite a contrast to its immediate surroundings. Again, on a normal day, I would have stopped to photograph such a stunning piece of God’s creation, but I was doing exceptionally well with my average pace. So, I just kept on walking.
That flower and cardinal got me thinking as I walked on though. That little cardinal was surrounded by dirty, smelly, ugly mud…, and she was diving into it headfirst. She was jumping around like this was the best day of her little life. It was as if she was glad to be surrounded by something so filthy...like she welcomed the mud in her life. She almost seemed thrilled by it. It made me wonder what that little bird knew that I didn’t about what was to come. Had she seen that little flower further up the trail that bloomed the most beautiful bloom despite all the ugliness that surrounded it? Had that brought her hope for what was to come from the mud and muck in her life?
I know I sound like a crazy person right now, but hang with me.
That whole thing got me wondering…when was the last time I experienced the thrill of hope? Or better yet, have I ever experienced a thrill of hope?
Most all of us know the famous Christmas song, “O Holy Night”, but have you ever really paid attention to the lyrics?
“…a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices…”
I’m sorry. You want me to rejoice in my weariness? I don’t know about you, but when I am weary with the trials of this life, rejoicing is probably the first thing that goes out the window. But James 1:2 says to consider it “pure joy” when we face trials of many kinds. Joy? Are you kidding me right now, James? When was the last time that you felt joyful when trials came upon you? When was the last time that you dove headfirst into the mud in your life? The trials and the muddiness of life are the things that make us weary in the first place. And we are expected to count those trials as pure joy and then rejoice in our weariness? How are we supposed to do that?
Hope.
Hope makes us rejoice in our weariness. Hope brings us joy in the trials. Hope…and the thrill that comes with it.
When was the last time that hope was a thrill for you? When was the last time that you rejoiced in your weariness? When was the last time that you counted the trials of your life as “pure joy”? And more importantly, how can you start?
I believe the song answers that question for us.
Let me ask you 3 more questions…
1 - When was the last time that you fell on your knees to worship and hear God’s voice? I am not talking figuratively here. I am talking about literally taking a kneeling posture during your prayer time with God. Philippians 2:10 says that “at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow”, and Psalm 95:6 says, “O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” Kneeling before God is a visual image of your submission to God’s authority. It shows personal humility. It is a symbol of the heart attitude that we should have and an expression of mourning over the sin in our lives. Falling on our knees in worship and reverence opens us up to hear His voice and hearing the voice of God can only bring hope.
2 – When was the last time you acknowledged that Christ is the Lord and praised Him for it? Proverbs 3:6 says, “in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths.” When we acknowledge that Christ is Lord, we are acknowledging that He is in control. We are acknowledging that He knows best. We are acknowledging that He is greater, and we are less than. Without Christ, we would never get off the winding road. He is the one that sets us on the right path. When we allow Him to direct our steps, we can trust that we are going the right way. Recognizing Him as Lord over all strips us of our anxiety and fear of failure, and that is praiseworthy for sure. Just knowing that He is Lord of all allows us to live with expectant hope. That kind of hope is the hope that can bring us through even the most challenging trials, rejoicing the whole way through our weariness.
3 – When was the last time that you acknowledged His power and glory and proclaimed it during your prayer time? We read of God’s power and glory all throughout scripture but how often do we actually proclaim it? I wholeheartedly believe that it is not enough to just read the scriptures. We must proclaim them over our lives. We read about the Lord parting the waters for Moses and Jesus walking on water, and it is encouraging, albeit hard to imagine. But what if you actually incorporated the acknowledgement of that power into your prayers? “Lord, I don’t know how I am going to cross this giant sea in front of me, but I know that I serve a God that walks on water and parts the raging sea for His people. So I know and trust that You will see me to the other side with Your power and might. Nothing is too big for You Lord. You close the mouths of lions and make the sun stand still. Lord, Your power is more than I could ever imagine and your glory too much for my eyes to take in.”
We can stand on the promises that we are given in the Bible. We can trust in His power and glory to get us through whatever storm we are facing in life. We can dive in and roll around in the mud that life builds up around us knowing that God is powerful enough to create something truly glorious on the other side. When we acknowledge the power and glory of God and begin to proclaim it over our lives, we experience the thrill of hope knowing that, regardless of how impossible the situation appears to us, NOTHING is impossible for our God.
As I mentioned earlier, I was too worried about my average pace to stop and take pictures of the cardinal or the flower on Friday. I wish I had because words could never paint an accurate picture of the joyful little bird or the beautiful splendor of that little purple flower. However, I was preoccupied. Isn’t that so typical of us humans? We are always rushing around from one thing to the next, always trying to cross things off our to-do list. It’s like we think that we were created to be busy all the time. Oftentimes, we never realize how much beauty and hope we are missing out on that is right in front of us. I made my average pace that day, but I very nearly missed out on an opportunity to share God’s beauty and wisdom with others. My prayer for all of us this Christmas season is that we can be still long enough to experience the thrill of hope that comes from falling on our knees in worship, acknowledging that Christ is Lord, and acknowledging His power and glory.
RESOURCES:
Message from Sunday: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNgKxekUB1E
Bible Studies on Hope: https://my.bible.com/search/plans?q=hope
All Things New By John Elderedge: https://www.amazon.com/All-Things-New-Restoration-Everything/dp/1400207525/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=all+things+new&qid=1607453284&sr=8-4