Unprecedented Hope
“The Scent of Hope”
Watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaM3kesVfT4
As we have been on this series of “Unprecedented Hope,” we’ve looked at this from many different angles, from creating an environment of hope, how to obtain a living hope, and the hope we need when life hurts and we find ourselves at the end of our rope. We’ve also looked at the various lives of those within the Scriptures, where we’ve seen this kind of hope at work, producing productive, fruitful, and vibrant lives. And I’m talking about people like Job, Abraham, King David, and the Apostle Paul, along with teachings from the prophets and apostles.
And so, when I think about this idea of recovering our hope, I automatically remember two stories from my youth, and how, at the scent of rain, dead and burnt-out trees and bushes, not to mention a stump or two, would sprout new life.
As a Boy Scout, our troop would undertake various environmental projects in the area surrounding Las Vegas. One year, the Mount Charleston experienced a large wildfire that burned acres of forested land. All that was left was a landscape of blackened trees and bushes, not to mention blackened earth.
One Saturday morning, a few of us were working on building dams to prevent further soil erosion from the rain, we saw heavy rain clouds moving over the ridge of Mount Charleston. Actually, we smelled them before we saw them. We smelled the rain before we saw any of it.
And so, as we were hurrying to complete what we were working on, I was amazed by what I saw. It seemed like the burned-out trees and bushes started to smell the same thing. They got the scent of water, and they rallied as small green shoots began to pop up on their darkened branches. At the scent of rain, they began reaching out toward a new life.
But it was not the first time I had seen this happen. When I was a boy, my parents bought a small house/cabin in the Mount Charleston range. The cabin was built before we bought it, but to build it, the builders had to cut down several large pine trees, leaving large stumps on the property. When my parents bought the cabin, these stumps looked dead. They were brown, dried out, and by all appearances, dead.
But when a series of heavy rainstorms hit the area, we saw new green shoots sprouting. It was growing another tree. And we saw that these once-tall and proud trees were making a comeback.
You see, like those burnt-out trees and bushes, these pine trees had their roots still firmly planted in good soil, and so when water – or, more literally, the scent of water – came, it brought new life.
And when I think about it, what I realize is that this is the very thing we all need, that is, we need the scent of God’s water that brings hope.
This is found in the least likely yet also the most likely place in the Bible – the book of Job.
Job not only talked about the frailty of life but also about hope, which didn’t seem all that possible given his present circumstances. He had literally lost everything: his family, possessions, and his health. At this point, Job was like a tree cut down in the prime of life, with only a dried-up stump left to show that it had ever existed.
And even though Job felt this way, there was still hope in his heart.
“For there is hope for a tree, if it is cut down, that it will sprout again, and that its tender shoots will not cease. Though its root may grow old in the earth, and its stump may die in the ground, yet at the scent of water it will bud and bring forth branches like a plant.” (Job 14:7-9 NKJV)
In this passage, Job likens the problems and difficulties we face in life to a tree that has been cut down, leaving only its stump; a stump that many thought to be dead because it is old and dried out. But when its roots go deep into the soil, it still retains the capacity to draw life-giving properties from its surroundings.
And, at the mere scent of water- not the water itself, mind you, but at the promise of water, the scent of water- old, dried-out stumps will begin to send out new green shoots because of the hope of life that remains within them. Because they know that new life is on the way.
Life is like that. It is hard and unrelenting, and many people feel as if they are like those old, dead tree stumps. They’ve been cut down by the trials and tribulations of life. They’ve been cut down by illness and disease, by the loss of a loved one, by abuse, divorce, bankruptcy, foreclosure, eviction, and by the loss of a friend, a job, or a career.
Solomon talks about what such devastation looks and feels like, but also what it feels like at the end, when there’s restoration and new life.
“Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” (Proverbs 13:12 NKJV)
At the scent of rain, at the scent of hope, there is life, and there is joy. But if this is true, then why are so many people remaining in a state of hopelessness?
The reason is that in humanity’s quest for peace and some semblance of hope, they try just about everything. They try fortune tellers, palm readers, soothsayers, astrology charts, crystals, spirituality, and even religion. And in this quest, they end up putting their hope in what can never deliver on the promises it makes. And so, people are left in despair and disappointment.
The only source of true hope, that which can send the branches of our lives upward and outward and our roots downward into good, rich soil, is the Lord. God is the only source of hope, a hope that will fill our lives to overflowing with peace and joy.
Look at how the Apostle Paul describes this in his prayer for the church in Rome. As you read or hear this prayer, realize that Paul suffered more than most people could ever imagine.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13 NKJV)
So, hope for our hurts is out there, but how can we sense it? Or better yet, how can we secure it for our lives? And the answer is what Job described and what I saw, namely that the trees and bushes sensed the coming of water, and that is what brought them back from their dormant state.
And that water is nothing less than the water of life, the river of living water that flows out from under the throne of God, and that is no one less than the Holy Spirit.
Now, before I can proceed, I need to explain how I came to this conclusion.
In Revelation 22, the Apostle John was shown God’s throne in heaven, with a river flowing from beneath it.
“And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Revelation 22:1 NKJV)
Now, on the throne it says sat the Father and Jesus Christ, but the question that came to my mind was, “Where was theHoly Spirit?”
The Holy Spirit is none other than that pure river of the water of life flowing out from the throne. How can I be sure? Because the same word structure used here to describe the river of life is the same word structure Jesus used to describe the working of the Holy Spirit.
“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, ‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.’” (John 7:37-39a NKJV)
And so, back to my question, “How can we get this scent of rain, or secure this river of living water for our lives, a riverthat wherever it flows produces life?”
Well, the first thing that actually comes from what Jesus said to secure this river of life is to believe.
The Holy Spirit was given to the disciples right after the resurrection. It says that on the evening of the resurrection, Jesus showed Himself to the disciples and said, “Peace be with you.” And then He showed them His hands and His side and said again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
And then after saying this, look at what it goes on to say; “He breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22 NKJV)
Now, to understand the significance of this, Jesus, who is the second person of the godhead, breathed on them. Now, one of the titles of the Holy Spirit is ‘The Breath of God.’ And we see this same breath coming from God upon Adam at the beginning, which brought Adam to life.
In Genesis 2:7, in the Lord’s description of the creation of mankind, it says, “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.”
And so, as the Holy Spirit brought Adam to life, creating him as body, soul, and spirit, so Jesus breathed on the disciples, bringing back the spiritual side of that first creation, the spiritual side that died when Adam and Eve sinned, bringing the curse of sin and death upon all born thereafter, down to you and me.
And when that happened, it brought Jesus’s promise upon them. Remember that promise, the one where Jesus said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink,” and then gives them the promise, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38 NKJV)
And then John reminded all of those who would read and hear these words, he said, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive.’” (John 7:37-39a NKJV)
Now, to the Jews back then, hearing Jesus say these words on the last and greatest day of the feast of Tabernacles, which ended when the High Priest poured water from a jar onto the ground, symbolizing prayers for rain and spiritual refreshment. And Jesus said, “Hey, come to me and drink, I’m the fulfillment.”
And so, to secure the breath and water of life, that is the Holy Spirit, it comes in and through belief in Jesus Christ.
The next step in securing this river of living waters is to ask.
As I was thinking about this whole process of securing the Holy Spirit, what Jesus said in Luke chapter 11 stood out and then some.
It began when Jesus said, “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (Luke 11:13 NKJV)
This then led me to what He said just prior.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10 NKJV)
And so, right before Jesus told them to ask for the Holy Spirit, He revealed that this was not just a one-time ask, but that we are to continue to ask and not give up. And He did so through the story of the persistent friend who wouldn’t stop asking his neighbor for food in the middle of the night, which happens to come just before he says it.
Let’s take a look at the story Jesus told.
“Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him;’ and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you?’ I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.” (Luke 11:5-8 NKJV)
Now, I’ve read and studied these verses multiple times, but little did I realize that Jesus is telling them and us to continue to ask for the one thing that will change our lives and this world we live in. That is why we need to continue to ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit, and how much God wants us to continue to ask Him for it.
And know that this is the will of God.
The Apostle John gives us this word of wisdom concerning our prayers and our need to ask. He said, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-16 NKJV)
And what could be more in the will of God than to be filled and overflowing with the power of the Holy Spirit?
Let me conclude this second point by saying that we need to continue to ask by faith for the filling of the Holy Spirit, so that we can live effective and successful lives for the Kingdom of God.
And so, we are just one ask away from God’s will for our lives, and that is to be filled with the overflowing power of the Holy Spirit so that we can fulfill the will of God, not only in our own lives, but in this world we live in.
And when we make that ask, we come to the last step, if you would, in securing the scent of hope, that river of living waters, and that is our need to wait for it, expectantly.
Our last step can be seen in what Jesus tells His disciples to do for the Holy Spirit’s outpouring. This happened after His resurrection and prior His ascension.
Jesus said, “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until you are endued with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49 NKJV)
The reason they needed to wait is evident in the word Jesus used about the Holy Spirit. The word “endued.” It means to cover or clothe oneself in something else. This is why some translations use the word “clothe.” In the Greek, it is the word we use for enveloping, like an envelope that we use to put a letter in.
In other words, we are to ask to be enveloped in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, this isn’t an academic exercise; rather, it is something every believer in Jesus Christ needs in order to live victoriously. That is why it is so important to wait for it, and why the Lord sometimes has us wait for it, to see whether we’re serious about wanting it.
And the Lord knows how hard it is for us to wait. In fact, if there’s one thing we hate most, it’s waiting. But it’s not just waiting; it is waiting expectantly, with great expectation.
So our prayer should be, “Lord, help us wait with a spirit of expectancy, expecting You to do great and wonderful things.”
And catch this: while we wait, God will do something great in the waiting. This is seen in what the prophet Isaiah said.
“But those who wait (hope) 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 NKJV)
Conclusion
God has given us this great and precious promise: that with the scent of rain, the scent of hope, He designed to give us not only hope for the present but also hope for the future. What we need to do is believe that God will provide the resources we need to see us through as we wait until we’re at heaven’s door.
Hopefully, you’ve gotten that scent today. Let me explain, as we close, why this is so important.
And I’d like to do so based on another river, one that has drawn my attention because it describes what this river will be like during the millennial reign of Christ. It’s found in the book of Ezekiel.
“And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there; for they will be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes.” (Ezekiel 47:9 NKJV)
(Story of my time in the desert after a 100-year rain came to the Las Vegas Valley.)
So let’s catch that scent of water today, and let’s start popping out all over, like those green spouts on those burnt-out branches and those dead stumps as they smelled the upcoming rain, and let’s look forward to the rain of the Holy Spirit upon our lives and upon the church.
