Are you weary? Do you feel stretched thin—far too thin? This year has surely been a trying one, hasn’t it? We have taken a beating personally. We have taken a beating in our ministries. And we have taken a beating as a nation, and beyond.
What we desperately need right now is rest. We need refreshment.
Which is why I want to draw a laser focus to just two verses in this week’s Bible story:
19 Therefore repent and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped out, 20 that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah. — Acts 3:19-20 (CSB)
Seasons of refreshing. Sounds good, doesn’t it? Let’s take a few minutes and think about the two seasons of refreshment we have been promised in Christ.
The season that will come
This is the season that Peter likely had in mind for the most part—when Jesus returns one day to make everything right. When the Father sends Jesus, we will experience the ultimate season of refreshing forevermore.
No more sin.
No more death.
No more pain.
No more tears.
No more suffering.
No more pandemics.
No more fighting.
All of that all gone.
And instead, we will experience abundance like never before.
Being with Christ and seeing Him face-to-face.
Being with all the believers from all ages.
Worshipping like never before.
Serving God like never before.
Fellowshipping like never before.
Rest.
Joy.
Holiness.
This is why John, after seeing a glimpse of this season despite the calamity he saw preceding it cried out, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
May our hearts echo that cry for this season of refreshment.
The season that has come
That season is then, but we are still living in now. Does this mean that we must wait for refreshment? There’s a fancy biblical word to answer this: nope.
Notice that Peter said “seasons”—plural. Remember that he was addressing unbelievers and calling them to trust in Christ. I suspect, then, that Peter had another season of refreshment in mind—today after we trust in Christ.
Life is hard for believers and unbelievers alike—pandemics do not discern between the regenerate and the unregenerate. And in many ways life is harder for believers. Jesus promised as much. He said we would be persecuted because of Him. But this does not mean that we cannot experience refreshing simultaneously with suffering and adversity. I know that sounds incongruous, but it’s not.
Notice from where this refreshment comes—from the presence of the Lord. And His presence begins now. We do not have to wait. Sure it will be even grander in that season to come, but it is pretty amazing in this season too.
The God of the universe, the Creator, knows you. He cares for you. He loves you. And He is with you. Always. And forever. Have we taken the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives too lightly? Do we fail to grasp the comfort we have been given? We can find refreshing today, even in what seems to be the darkest of days, because the Lord’s presence is indeed with us.
Find comfort in Him.
Find hope in Him.
Find purpose in Him.
Find forgiveness in Him.
Find righteousness in Him.
Find refreshment in Him.
The Spirit-filled life is not a special, deluxe edition of Christianity. It is part and parcel of the total plan of God for His people.” — A. W. Tozer (1897-1963)
A. W. Tozer, How to Be Filled with the Holy Spirit, in Life in the Spirit (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2009), 24.
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