Article | Missions magazine

Thinking It Through: A Season of Renewal

Apr 15, 2021
Devotional

By Alan Parks

Seasons are inevitable, along with the changes they bring. I think of spring in one word: renewal—a time of rebirth after the leaves have fallen and the grass goes dormant. I love this season, as everything becomes green, renewed once again. The metaphor between spring and our hearts is obvious. We all have experienced periods of drought, when the vibrant hues of green turned a dull brown and gray.

Humanity is undergoing a severe test, one from which we as believers are not immune. Underneath the umbrella known as a “pandemic,” we have seen sickness, death of friends and loved ones, job loss with economic uncertainty, and human anxiety over our immediate future. Many believers have been unable to meet and fellowship with their local churches, and ministries have been impacted in unprecedented ways. As I read the pages of Missions each month, nearly every article and report have mentioned the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected workers around the globe. The pandemic has taken its toll. Have you noticed how it has affected you?

At times, needing encouragement, I’ve found tremendous comfort from the Bible and songs. In 1970, American composer Kurt Kaiser wrote the lyrics of “Bring Back the Springtime,” which have deeply impacted me, both recently and in the past:

When in the spring, the flowers are blooming bright and fair,
After the gray of winter’s gone.
Once again the lark begins its tuning,
Back in the meadows of my home.
Lord, to my heart bring back the springtime.
Take away the cold and dark of sin;
Oh, return to me, sweet Holy Spirit:
May I warm and tender be again. (1)

God’s Word is filled with verses of renewal and hope. We’ve all thrilled to the sublime promise from Lamentations 3:22–23: “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new [renewed] every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”

The longer I live, the more I find that traveling back in my mind to the moment of my salvation wonderfully renews my mind and heart. We should have been consumed—eternally alienated from God—but thanks to His immeasurable mercy and grace, we are His children, reveling in His compassions that will never fail, as He renews them each morning. In a world of turmoil, anxiety, unrest, and hopelessness, our Lord refreshes us daily in a relationship of perfect acceptance and fellowship.

Even as we age, we can rest on the truth of 2 Corinthians 4:16: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” So, rather than being caught up in life’s turmoil, we ought to look to the Lord. As Isaiah assures us, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

God’s children have every tool available for the renewal of mind and heart. We celebrate the salvation He freely gives to us, His daily mercies, and at the end, the certain promise of heaven. Even though this present life is filled with change, our biggest change is yet to come. The last two chapters of Revelation present to us a list of things that will be gloriously absent from heaven: no more death, sorrow, crying, pain, curse, night, sun, moon, or defilement.

And so, dear believer, as the seasons change, we can always rely on, trust, and rejoice in the One Who changes not. He has given us this charge: “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

Warmth restored, winter’s cold gone, springtime returned to our hearts—it sounds good, doesn’t it? ■

 

Alan Parks is a commended worker based in South Carolina.

 

Notes:
(1) Kurt Kaiser, “Bring Back the Springtime,” hymn #396 in The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (Nashville: Word Music, 1986).

 

Originally published in Missions magazine, April 2021. For more content, sign up for a free subscription (US) to Missions at CMML.us/magazine/subscribe.