where waves grow sweet

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” Ephesians 3:20

Photo Credit: Kaiserswest

How those disciples must have struggled after the crucifixion, having left their lives behind to follow this man who promised new life but himself yielded to death. All their hopes were hovering there in those three silent days, exposed and unfulfilled, like a broken body whose doctor disappeared midway through surgery. Their defective state had been diagnosed and the work to repair it had begun. They couldn’t just clamp their bleeding hearts, hop off the operating table and carry on with life as it existed before. As Peter had said, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life.”

They had seen with their own eyes miracles performed; the authority that caused both demons and disease to flee – and yes, even the dead to be raised. And then the love; oh that love. Not a sentimental kind, but one that called up life and transformed all it touched. Everything had changed through this man; this they knew. But the circumstances were confusing at best. The kingdom had not been restored. Their beloved teacher was dead. Without him, they were just a bunch of misfits who had been on a strange journey together.

But it went beyond that. Trauma had occurred. Pain had been experienced. Hope had been rocked, leaving it shaky and fragile, vulnerable to accusations and uncertain of its certainties. Doubt raised its insidious voice in that opportune pause, when truth itself seemed suspended in time. And fear wasn’t far behind, delighting to fill in every missing piece with imaginations of its own design.

But the truth is this: No matter what the disciples thought or felt in that dark place, they were not abandoned. Jesus’ absence was an active stance on their behalf, crushing death with its handmaidens of doubt, fear and despair; thrusting open a way through a stumbling existence into abounding life – the kind that changes history.

You see, they were not left to bleed out on the operating table, or asked to hobble along with damaged parts. Nor were their existing hearts going to be improved upon so they could do life “better.” Instead, they were given new hearts of a perfect design with a love and courage born of the Spirit. They would have chosen comfort and settled for so much less, but He gave infinitely more.

This is the same God we serve. One who is willing to risk our temporary discomfort and suffer our doubts as he transforms the most desolate places on our behalf, enabling us to walk in courageous faith and ravage darkness by His light. Our lives will not resemble their former selves, nor will the world after we’ve touched it. So no matter how hopeless things look or how defeated you feel, know that this is not the end of the story. He will not rest until, by His great mercy, you are fully inhabiting your imperishable, undefiled and unfading inheritance.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.” Peter 1:3-4