106. He Brings Springtime To Hard, Cold Hearts

Isaiah 61:11

When you’re in the middle of a hard time, it feels like you’ll never be cheerful again. It feels like you’ll always be heavy-hearted and downcast. Sometimes when you’re feeling cold and empty, you simply can’t find your way out of it. You don’t feel like praying and you don’t feel like singing and you don’t want to read the Scriptures because, well, you’ve read it all before! It’s not going to give you something new, because they haven’t changed that book at all since you started reading it! It’s like driving your car around in the cold, winter months... the sky is gray, the ground is hard and the wind is harsh. Everything looks the same and it feels like nothing will ever change, until one day, it does. One day, out of nowhere, you’re driving those same streets, only you see little sprigs of green coming out of the ground that’s been barren for months. A couple of days after that, and you see them... blooms! Daffodils and tulips, right there where there was just cold, hard ground before! Flowers appear out of nowhere, and yet, they appear right where they were this time last year and right where they were planted years ago. Isaiah 61 says, “As the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seed to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations.” You see, Jesus can bring something fresh and new to even the most wintry heart. He is alive, and His word is not like any other normal book. The words are alive. Go to those old, familiar passages again and ask Him to bring springtime to your heart.