Because He Died, We Truly Live

04/02/22 – 04/13/22

Surprised by Hope

By Michael Youssef, Ph D.  04/11/22

Have you ever been in a situation where you believed there was no way out? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by your circumstances that you thought there was no possibility of breakthrough? In a far greater way than we could ever imagine, such was the condition of three women on the very first Easter morning.

Read Mark 16:1-7. On the morning of the third day following Christ’s crucifixion, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome were in a deep state of mourning and utter hopelessness.

Throughout the years of Christ’s ministry, these women had demonstrated an unwavering commitment to Jesus. Each of them believed with all their heart that He was the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament, and they knew that they had been called by God to serve Him. They were certain that He had come to establish His Kingdom on earth.

So when they found themselves standing at the foot of the cross, it was all the more heartbreaking. As they huddled together with the apostle John, they watched Jesus die. And as they watched His death, they were watching their hopes and dreams die along with Him.

As they approached the tomb that first Easter Sunday, they came with a sense of hopelessness. Jesus was gone, and in the darkest of times, they had made plans for the inevitable. They had come with spices to anoint Christ’s body for burial, as was the Jewish custom.

Little did they know that their plans were needless—for God had already supernaturally intervened. Christ their Lord, who had died before their eyes, had risen from the grave.

Often, we can surrender to worry and anxiety, only to discover later that our thinking was premature. When God intervenes in our lives, despair, which had seemed immovable, can melt away in a moment. Suddenly, light shines in the dark corners of our thoughts and replaces hopelessness with hope, sorrow with joy, and fear with faith.

What plans in your life—plans born out of depression and hopelessness—might God be trying to interrupt today? The God who supernaturally intervened in the lives of these three women can also intervene in your life—and the life of anyone who believes in His name.

Prayer: Father, thank You for the hope You have given us in You. Help me trust You in the darkest of times and allow the hope of the resurrection to light my way in every circumstance. I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!” (Luke 24:5-6).