Good Morning Easter Devotional Day One – Lean into Hope

Welcome to the very first day of the Good Morning Easter Devotional! I’m so excited to do this study! I’ve known since the last study Becoming a Well-Watered Woman in a Parched World, I’ve wanted to do another one of these, and I’m so excited you’re joining! Follow these directions to download the YouVersion app and study access.

Let’s dive right in!

I don’t know about you, but I am struggling in every sense of the word. I have felt very crippled by anxiety, I’m worried about the health of family members and friends, things happening in my personal life are bleeding into the effectiveness of my professional life, and sometimes I can barely roll out of bed. Just honesty hour over here. And when the first sentence of this entire study was, “Today is a good day to be hope-filled,” my initial reaction was, “Girl, did you write this devo pre-2020, because after the year we just experienced, and are currently experiencing, that sentence feels like it should not be there.” Our world is so filled with discouragement, challenges, injustices, you name it, it’s here. 

Then I started reading and got served a big ole slice of humble pie. Delish.

The devo says that when sin entered the world, God’s perfect creation was then tainted, and here we are today. “We face the reality that human beings do not occupy the role they were created to. Our world needs help. Humanity needs restoring.”

Let’s pop over to Zechariah. When’s the last time you’ve read Zechariah? It’s looking a little dusty for me! Zechariah is brimming with hope. Check this out in chapter 10 verse 6:

I will strengthen the house of Judah,
and I will save the house of Joseph.
I will bring them back because I have compassion on them,
and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
for I am the LORD their God and I will answer them.

Zechariah 10:6

So Zechariah is prophesying God’s restoration to the people of Judah who had just returned from exile in Babylon. And this restoration is just a foreshadow of the greatest restoration that was yet to come through Jesus. Zechariah is pointing people to the greatest hope we could ever have – Christ.

The gospel, literally translated as good news, is that through Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross, God began his restorative work in humanity and in our world. This devo goes on to quote N.T. Wright, “the ‘good news’ of the Christian gospel is that this new world, this new creation, has already begun: it began when Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead on Easter morning…” 

And as God’s fellow workers, like 1 Corinthians 3:9 says, each of us can partner in God’s restorative work in the world. Because of this, the gospel, the good news, God’s restorative work, we have so much to be hopeful for. “Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” 

So let’s think about this: How can you be a carrier of this hope into the world? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 

Lean into hope today, friends.