Poem of Hope

 

Maxfield Parrish

 
  Poem of Hope


A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—

and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.


He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;

but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.


He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. 

Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.


The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.

The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.

The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

They will neither harm nor destroy

on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.

 

Isaiah 11:1-9

Here I am in the Poem of Hope.

Here, where a dry root begins to grow, where a tree that has been cut down sprouts a new branch -  here where Hope crawls up from the ground and begins to fill the earth.

All this around us, this madness, the injustice, hatred, war, confusion, the despair - He transforms it all. The years, the generations, the layers of pain, the twisted hearts, the unfixable wrongs, the poem says all these will be reversed.

That out of this misery has grown a branch of new life, a sprig, a fresh start, the green leaves of a new season.

That a King has come, a ruler of true insight, true wisdom, true power, true love.

 

And because of Him the world is changed.

 

Peace will rise and fill the world.

We will walk without fear of each other.

Nature will not war against us or against itself.

 

Because this King of Hope and Love is for us.

God with us.

If there is anything worth hoping for, this is it.