and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (ESV)

and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. (NIV)

Emily Dickinson once defined hope as “the thing with feathers, That perches in the soul…” This picture of a delicate bird living inside our soul may be meant to encourage us, but to me it also makes hope seem small or fragile. 

We know all too well that hoping for something doesn’t make it true. If we put our hope in something temporary - like our circumstances - we will find ourselves tossed around in a whirlwind of emotions. If we place our hope in ourselves, we can end up feeling ashamed when our resolve wears out. 

And when our hope centers on us, our shame does too. It tempts us to believe we can’t change, and the only hope we have is lost. Hope in ourselves is easily broken by shame. This can feel overwhelming and cause us to doubt the power of God’s love.

But when we place our hope in the Holy Spirit, there is no shame, and there is no condemnation. Hope in Him is forever tethered to His perfect love, and He lives in us, supplying all our needs for life and godliness. Hope found there will never fail because He never fails. It’s putting our hope in that which is true and secure.
 
When we are tempted to despair, turning to the Holy Spirit brings comfort to our deepest needs. When we wrestle with doubt about our purpose, He reminds us that we are His beloved. And when shame or regret pounds at the door of our minds, we can surrender to Him, confident that God has poured His perfect, all-consuming love into our hearts through His Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is not a delicate thing with feathers, merely perched in the soul; He is the Spirit of God who has made His home in us. He’s not going anywhere. We can trust Him with every part of our lives, and when we do, we will find Him pouring out the love of God into our lives, sheltering us so that we will never be ashamed.

Written by LeeAnn Randall