A Songbird Named Hope

The famed poet Emily Dickinson penned these words:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers —
That perches in the soul —
And sings the tune without the words —
And never stops — at all —

Hope perches in the soul.

Wow. Thank you, Miss Emily, for your gripping words and that beautiful picture!

Paul calls God “the God of hope” (Romans 15:13).

Did you catch that?

That means that hope is who God is. Which means our hope is found in Him. We don’t have to go looking for it somewhere else or somehow manufacture it ourselves.

Even when that songbird within us seems distant, when its chirping is faint and hard to hear, hope is still there, still perched in the soul, still singing.

Dickinson continues:

“And sweetest — in the Gale — is heard —
And sore must be the storm —
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm —”

Hope isn’t silenced by the storms of life.

Dickinson says that’s when its song is sweetest.

It’s one thing to sing praises to God on dry ground. But when the waves start rising, whipping around us and splashing us in the face, well, we can start sinking beneath them.

Peter did.

He stepped out of the boat and onto a sea that should have swallowed him whole. With his eyes on Jesus, Peter walked on water. But then he looked at the wind. Fear took over, and he began to sink (Matthew 14:28–31).

Something I sure can relate to. Can you?

It’s easy to stare at the waves, the diagnosis, the unanswered prayer, the betrayal, the child we cannot help, the relationship we cannot repair, the future we cannot control.

We stare at them so long that we begin to believe they are bigger than the One standing above them.

And we begin to sink.

But Jesus never did.

Don’t miss this: What was over Peter’s head was still under Jesus’ feet.

When Peter cried out, Jesus immediately reached down and caught him.

That is what our water-walking Savior does!

Our hope isn’t found in our ability to control the waves or out-plan the future.

It’s found in Him.

Dickinson closes her poem:

“I’ve heard it in the chillest land —
And on the strangest Sea —
Yet — never — in Extremity,
It asked a crumb — of me.”

Even in extremity, in the most dire circumstances, hope never asked so much as a crumb from her. It just kept giving.

That is what God does for us. It’s who He is for us!

We don’t have to manufacture hope or muster up enough of it to get through another day. And we certainly don’t have to pretend everything is going to be okay.

God supplies what we need.

Remember Paul’s words in Romans 15:13: it is the God of hope who fills us.

Notice who does the filling.

He does.

We trust Him.

He fills us.

So when the waves rise and that songbird within you seems awfully quiet, tell your soul to sing.

Not because the storm no longer rages, but because hope is not found in the absence of waves and wind.

Hope is found in a Person.

And His name is Jesus.