Week 7 of Lent – Resurrection Hope That Changes Everything
Scripture
“Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.
For you, Lord, have delivered me from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling.”
Psalm 116:7–8
Reflection
Psalm 116 reads like a testimony spoken after the storm has passed. It is one of my favorite storms because it reminds me that I can sing this song before the storm goes away. Before God rescues, these true things about God remain true.
The psalmist looks back and names what God has done—not in theory, but in lived experience. “He has rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.” This is not abstract hope. Even if we have yet to be delivered from our present sorrow, this whole season of the year reminds us we have been delivered from the ultimate sorrow: the curse and wrath from sin!
Throughout Lent, we have been walking slowly—through confession, waiting, lament, trust, sorrow, and hope that held us in the dark. Week after week, the Psalms have taught us how to stay honest with God when life feels unresolved.
But Lent does not end in the valley. It leads us here—to a hope that changes everything. The hope we have is Christ’s resurrection. Our entire hope in this life and for the next life is based on real events in history. We have this confidence that the resurrection is real (1 Corinthians 15) and this hope brings rest.
Rest is no longer a fragile wish or a forced calm. It is the settled response of a heart that has seen God act. Resurrection hope is not the denial of death—it is the declaration that death does not get the final word.
This is the hope of Easter. Christ did not bypass suffering; He entered it fully. Our Savior, our Lord, our friend Jesus understands the pain more than anyone else. And because He understands, He does not rush us out of grief; He meets us in it. And through His resurrection, He transforms what once held power over us. The empty tomb tells us that sin, death, and despair have been confronted—and defeated.
Psalm 116 reminds us that God’s rescue is personal:
My soul. And tears. My feet.
Resurrection is not only a future promise; it is a present reality that reshapes how we live now. Because Christ is risen, we are invited to return to rest—not because life is easy, but because God is faithful.
As Lent comes to a close, we do not leave behind the honesty we’ve learned. The same God who met us in the waiting, who held us through the night, now calls us to rest in His goodness. Psalm 116 shows us how to do this.
I love the Lord, because he has heard
my voice and my pleas for mercy.
Because he inclined his ear to me,
therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
Psalm 116:1-2
We can keep taking the honest cries of lament and repentance to God. He hears us. Not only does He hear, he is actively listening: “inclined his ear to me…” He leans in, like a mother listening to her child, and waits for us to come to him. This promise in and of itself is a daily reminder to keep praying to God!
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;
our God is merciful.
The Lord preserves the simple;
when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return, O my soul, to your rest;
for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.
Psalm 116:5-7
Our hope, daily, is one filled with honest prayer, but also declarations of trust. Hope no longer whispers from the shadows. It stands in the open and says: Life has overcome death. Friend, that truth changes everything.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, You are the One who enters our suffering and redeems it from the inside out. Thank You for meeting us in the valley and leading us toward life. As we stand in the light of the resurrection, teach our souls to return to rest—not because we are strong, but because You are faithful. Deliver us again from fear, from despair, and from forgetting Your goodness. Let resurrection hope shape how we live, how we trust, and how we worship You. Amen.
Reflection Questions
Where have you seen God quietly rescue you during this Lenten season—even if the struggle has not fully ended?
What would it look like for you to “return to rest” in light of Christ’s resurrection, trusting what God has already done?
A Closing Word for the Lenten Journey
As this Lenten journey comes to a close, we carry with us the hope and right that the resurrection brings. Lent has taught us how to slow down, how to tell the truth before God, how to wait without numbing our hope, and how to trust Him in the middle of stories that are still unfinished.
The Psalms have given us language for repentance, wilderness, lament, trust, sorrow, and quiet hope—and now, resurrection. Not a hope that denies the dark, but one that rises from it. Because Christ is risen, our prayers were not wasted, our tears were not ignored, and our waiting was not in vain.
Christ’s resurrection does not erase the hard, and sometimes sorrow-filled road we walk; it redeems it. And as we step into the days ahead, we do so changed—resting not in our strength or clarity, but in the faithful love of the God who met us every step of the way and promises to keep leading us into life.
This reflection is part of the Psalms for the Lenten Journey series—a seven-week walk through Lent using the prayers and honesty of the Psalms. If you’d like to read the full series, you can begin at Week 1 and move through each week at your own pace.
Click here to read the other posts in this series.