Combating Life’s “Winter Doldrums”

Jeff Miller

1/17/21

Combating the Winter Doldrums

Romans 5:1-5

Intro: Good morning. I don’t know about you, but I can’t help but wonder, “Is it Spring yet?”

Spring is the most optimistic time of year. It’s when the sun shines brighter and stays out a little longer, the temperature begins to warm up, the trees begin to bud, there’s a freshness in the air, and the flowers begin to bloom. Now, I am glad that this winter has been mild so far. It can stay that way, especially when I’m out driving across half of New York every day.

As I mentioned in a sermon a couple of weeks ago, Spring will officially arrive at 5:37 a.m. on March 20, which ends up being roughly 61 days and 20 hours. Sounds like a long time, doesn’t it? 

But how do we go through the next two months? I mean winter can be cold, sluggish, gray…there’s little to do––and that’s before COVID restrictions. The winter doldrums are a real thing. And it can bring anyone down. 

You know, in life, we could experience “winter doldrums” any day of the year. It could be a sunny, 70-degree day and still feel as if it were the middle of winter. There are days that just get us down for one reason or another. But like getting the winter doldrums, we can look forward to Spring because, as I also mentioned in the same sermon a couple of weeks ago, God said to Noah, “As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.”

And in the same way, we’ll have seasons in life. We’ll have the occasional wintery day with grey clouds and cold, but we serve a God who promises that Spring will be on it’s way. In our own lives we can look forward to a better day.

Scripture: If you have your Bibles, you can turn with me to Romans 5, and we’ll read the first five verses.

As I mentioned a moment ago, I drive halfway across New York state. Well, I normally don’t in a literal way, but I could drive anywhere between Buffalo and Binghamton on any given day. And after five years of this, it’s not unusual for me to still not know where a town is and how long it will take to get me there. So, of course, I use Google maps to plug in where it is. 

Have you ever used Google maps? You plug in an address, and you click on the ‘satellite view’ and voila, you get a bird’s eye view of the place. But if you don’t know how to get there, you plug in your address and it will give you the route and the approximate time it will take to get there.

It also zooms out to show you the way on the map. 

Ah, zooming out…to see a clearer perspective of the way. Now, we don’t always get the road map in life. I wish we did. I wish God gave us the road map the way Google does. He’s more like a GPS when you’re enroute and need to know where the next turn is. But even a GPS gives you a clearer picture of long-distance travel.

But God does give us promises that if we trust Him, he’ll get us there. And that trust is like seeing the destination in zoom mode. It’s alright, we’ll get there.

And our scripture verse, as short as it is, helps give us a perspective on that.

Romans 5:1-5, Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Central Truth: Did you catch that part in verse three where Paul says, “we also glory in our sufferings?” Simple, right? Okay, maybe not. Glorying in our sufferings is not part of the human logic, is it? 

But why would Paul say such an audacious thing? Because just prior to that he says, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

And that’s what I want to talk to you about today. There’s a Spring on the horizon. Like I mentioned in that same sermon I referenced before, “Things are gonna change.” There’s a change for the better up ahead. God will help you reach your destination if you trust Him. 

Point 1: Verse 1 begins says, “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

That means that we, as Christians, have been brought into the family of God, have a right standing with God, and have benefits of being His children. “We have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.” 

But what is ‘this grace’ that Paul talks about here. Is it just salvation? I mean, he talks about being justified through faith and therefore having peace with God. But being in grace not only means we have peace with God, but we also have peace in God.

Enduring Word has a long list of what it means to stand in God’s grace.

Here are a few of those things:

· God is my friend.

· The door of access is permanently open to Him.

· To believe, and consent to be loved while unworthy, is the great secret.

· To expect to be blessed, though realizing more and more our lack of worth.

· To testify of God’s goodness, at all times.

· To be certain of God’s future favor; yet to be ever more tender in conscience toward Him.

This access that we receive is an access to the very Throne of God. Remember last week I talked about being in God’s ‘Secret Place?’ This is essentially the same thing, we have access to God’s ‘secret place,’ a place not of this earth and not made by hands. 

Enduring Word goes on with a quote that goes hand in hand with that idea. It says that our access into his ‘secret place’ is, “to remain with him; to be his household; and by faith, to behold his face, and walk in the light of his countenance.” Which is similar to what I talked about last week. Which is why, as Paul states, “we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

In other words, we have a reason to praise Him because it is by grace that we stand with him, not by our own works. We cannot boast of ourselves and our greatness like the Pharisees did.

Point 2: So, we’re sort of recapping the things that we’ve talked about for the past couple of weeks, and you see how it goes along with our set of verses this morning, but what does this all have to do with looking forward to a new “Spring-like” season in our lives?

Sure, “to everything there is a season,” we talked about that, but what about being in the middle of a ‘winter season’ in life? Dull…cold…gloomy…will we ever have a Spring? I mean it feels like winter in Narnia, right? Always winter but never Christmas.

Paul goes on to say in the next couple of verses: “We also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.”

Remember, if anyone had the right to talk about suffering, it was Paul. Shipwrecks, snakebites, prison, lashes, cold, hunger. He had endured suffering. Yet, he found the secret of contentment. He found a way, through experience, to find hope for the future. 

Now, Paul’s future was one of continued suffering. Paul often talked about hope being in our eternal glory. But our hope does not have to be one of continued suffering. I’m reminded of the final chapter of the Gospel of John where Jesus tells Peter:

“18 Very truly I tell you, when you were younger you dressed yourself and went where you wanted; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will dress you and lead you where you do not want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, “Follow me!”

20 Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”) 21 When Peter saw him, he asked, “Lord, what about him?”

22 Jesus answered, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow me.”

All that to say that God had his plan for Peter and Paul, and others, to live difficult lives with suffering and tribulation. That is not the life every Christian is called to live. Even Paul, though his suffering, found a way to gain hope––even if his hope was in his eternal glory.

That hope is not just found when we are already in Spring––and we can look forward to a Summer season in life, but also when we are suffering and in a Winter season in life. We can hope for Spring.

Charles Spurgeon said, “‘Tribulation worketh patience,’ says the apostle. Naturally it is not so. Tribulation worketh impatience, and impatience misses the fruit of experience, and sours into hopelessness. Ask many who have buried a dear child, or have lost their wealth, or have suffered pain of body, and they will tell you that the natural result of affliction is to produce irritation against providence, rebellion against God, questioning, unbelief, petulance, and all sorts of evils. But what a wonderful alteration takes place when the heart is renewed by the Holy Spirit!”

And along those same lines, Martin Luther said, “Whatever virtues tribulation finds us in, it develops more fully. If anyone is carnal, weak, blind, wicked, irascible, haughty, and so forth, tribulation will make him more carnal, weak, blind, wicked and irritable. On the other hand, if one is spiritual, strong, wise, pious, gentle and humble, he will become more spiritual, powerful, wise, pious, gentle and humble.”

And Paul, later on in the same book of Romans, in Chapter 8 said, 

25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 

While we are going through tribulation, God finds a way for it to work good in us. And during that time, we wait and hope patiently and in faith through prayer and petition, and the Spirit hears us even when we can’t find the words to say.

As we go through our Winter season, God does not make it unproductive and unfruitful. Diana was just talking about planting yesterday, and getting the basement ready to begin getting seeds ready for Spring. It’s the middle of winter, and yet she’s already beginning to get ready for Spring. She’s got out her catalogue and made some orders and is calculating how much profit she can earn, and she’s got her greenhouse fixed up. She’s not being unfruitful in the middle of Winter when you can’t plant. She’s still planting. And that’s how God uses us in the middle of our ‘winter season.’

Suffering produces, just like a seed. So does perseverance (which is tough) and character (which can be tough sometimes as well). But these things produce hope. Another quote from Enduring Word, “This is a golden chain of Christian growth and maturity. One virtue builds upon another as we grow in the pattern of Jesus.”

This isn’t the way we want to find hope, is it? Just like dieting isn’t the way I want to lose weight or exercising is the way I want to gain muscle. Lord, just drop the pounds through your blessing. But in the same way, hope has to be produced in us through circumstances where we need hope. We don’t need hope when we’re in a good place. We need hope when we’re in a bad place. We need to produce hope for a better place, for a better season.

And this endurance and hope that is produced in us is the type of faith it takes to combat trials and tribulations that come in our next ‘winter season.’

Once we were novices to faith. We were recruits in God’s army. After many trials and experiences, we have become veterans. 

Sermonwriter.com says, Paul is saying that endurance produces a tested or a proven character—the solid character of a veteran rather than the uncertain character of a recruit (Morris, 221). This then produces hope, because the veteran, having triumphed over adversity in the past, can hope to triumph over adversity in the future.

In other words, looking back on past blessings can restore our hope and give us reason to look ahead. 

Billy Graham said, “Faith points us beyond our problems to the hope we have in Christ.” 

And C.S. Lewis said, “True faith is never found alone; it is accompanied by expectation.”

Point 3: The rest of the passage states, “hope doesn’t disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (v. 5). 

I like the way The Amplified Bible puts it. “Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.”

You know, it’s one thing to hope in someone or to hope for something. It’s another thing for that hope to disappoint us. 

Sermonwriter goes on to say, “No matter what happens, God loves us. We are beloved sons and daughters whom God will never abandon.” 

Remember what Jesus said in Matthew, “God provides for the birds of the air and the lilies of the field, so we can be sure that God will provide for us (Matthew 6:25-34).”

God does not disappoint. Now, sometimes, when we are in the middle of our ‘winter season’ and it’s still cold and snowy and dark, we feel as if God has abandoned us and left us. We may feel disappointed. But that is because we are not seeing things through God’s eyes. 

Remember the Google map, seeing things from a greater point of view? From God’s map? Remember when we talked about God’s timetable a couple of weeks ago? Our hope is built on the faith that God is working all things for good, and in His timing, it will happen. 

Lamentations 3:25-26 says, “The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; 26 it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.”

Psalm 37:7 says, “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”

Hope in God will not disappoint. The Greek word here for ‘not’ means ‘never’ as in ‘never ever.’ In other words, our Hope in God will always, always, always 100-percent be satisfied.  

Jeremiah writes “Blessed is the man that trusts in the LORD, and whose hope is the LORD.” Why? “For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreads out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat comes, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be anxious in the year of drought, nor cease from yielding fruit. (Jer 17:7-8)”

Spurgeon said, “The prayer may be viewed as a promise; our Heavenly Father will never let his trustful children find him untrue or unkind. He will ever be mindful of his covenant.”

Why? Because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through The Holy Spirit.

This isn’t pouring like a faucet. It’s more than that. When you look at Montour Falls just down the road, in a dry season it isn’t pouring, it’s sort of trickling. Here, Paul is saying God’s love has been poured out in the way Montour Falls pours out after a heavy rain. Lavishly, overflowing, a mighty current. Have you ever felt God’s Spirit within you so much you felt as if you were about to burst? 

A few chapters later, in Chapter 15, Paul says to the Roman church, “13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

That Spirit within us is a confirmation that God’s got our back. That life will get better. We will be given a Spring season.

Conclusion: I know I’ve given you a lot of quotes today. But I find it beneficial to back up what I’m trying to tell you. God will never, ever, ever disappoint us. We can hope in Him. We may not get a particular prayer answered, and God might not give us any reason, and therefore we may feel as if God disappointed us. We may be impatient, we may wonder if God has heard us, and we may not understand his plan or his timing. And all of these things throw us off. 

But through it all, through the suffering, we are forced to either drop away from God, or if we have the tenacity to stick with God through it all, we find God mending our character and producing in us a strength that we have not had before. And that strength becomes a hope that will carry us through.

And through our endurance and faithfulness, God promises that in His timing He will answer our prayers and bring a new season in our lives.

To close, I have a couple of words from the Old Testament. I’ve read these before, they are very well-known passages. These are specifically God’s words through the prophets for Israel, but it shows us the heart of God for His people: 

Isaiah 43:16-21

16 This is what the Lord says—he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters,

17 who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together,

and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick:

18 “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?

I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.

20 The wild animals honor me, the jackals and the owls, because I provide water in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland, to give drink to my people, my chosen,

21 the people I formed for myself that they may proclaim my praise.

Jeremiah 29:10-11

10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 

See, God’s timing. When 70 years are over. When Israel’s ‘winter season’ was over. We may have to go through a winter season. Maybe it’s for a number of reasons. Maybe it’s to strengthen us through patient endurance and give us the ability to hope in a way we never have before. But there comes a time when it’s over. There comes a time when God does ‘a new thing’ and brings us streams in the wasteland.

Streams usually begin to flow in the Spring. God has a Spring season up ahead. Just a little while longer and it’ll not only be Spring in the natural sense, but also in our personal lives. 

One more verse today, this is from 1 Peter 5:10. “10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your promises. Thank you that Spring may be a while, but we can always look forward to Spring while we’re in the middle of winter. Thank you that Winter doesn’t last forever. Thank you that you have a Spring in mind for us. Thank you that you have something better on the horizon––an answer to prayer, a purpose that has yet to be fulfilled, a blessing that’s on its way.

Thank you for your provision, your grace and your love that we do not deserve. Thank you for your love and your care. In Jesus name, amen.