Hope

For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope... And again Isaiah says, The root of Jesse will come, even He who arises to rule the Gentiles; in Him will the Gentiles hope.” May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:4, 12-13

Hope is a word commonly used and usually more for wishful thinking. We hope for nice weather. We hope our kids behave or do well in school. We hope we make it through the work week. We hope we have a good hair day. We hope Amazon delivers on time. We hope we get 20,000+ views on our YouTube video so we can start making money from it. We hope we don’t run out of gas on the way to church.

We also hope for more life-altering things. We hope to get out of an abusive relationship. We hope that a loved one won’t die from cancer. We hope we can find work to support our family. We hope a loved one can be free from their addiction. We hope for a way out of our grief or depression.

There are many situations that can seem hopeless, or we put our hope in people or things that will fail including ourselves. In Romans 15, Paul tells us where true and sure hope is found:

1) Through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures (vs 4)

2) The root of Jesse, Jesus (vs 12)

3) God the Father (vs 13)

4) The Holy Spirit (vs 13)

First, we find hope through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always endure. Some days, I barely make it out of bed. Other days, I get tripped up or side-tracked by sin, discouragement or life in general. Thankfully, in verse 5, we see Paul declare God to be the God of endurance and encouragement. Our endurance is not by our own strength. Our ability to endure rests in our faithful Father who is the God of endurance. He has always endured. He always will. He never grows weary. He never gets side-tracked. He never stumbles. He never changes. Our loving Father will help us endure.

Our hope is also found through the encouragement of the Scriptures. Everywhere we look, we can see the effects of sin. We are bombarded with lies. We are surrounded by people seeking to remove God from every aspect of society. Our government is a mess. Families are a mess. Even churches are a mess. We need to saturate our minds and hearts in the truth of Scripture. We need to be reminded of the Gospel, God’s character and who we are in Christ. Scripture is full of hope from beginning to end. In Genesis when Adam and Eve sinned, God gave them hope by promising the Messiah and then providing an animal sacrifice to cover their nakedness and shame. He didn’t abandon them. Account after account through the Old Testament and New testifies to God working, bringing hope until the culmination of our hope in Christ’s return and our eternal life with Him – hope fulfilled.

Second, our hope is in the root of Jesse, Jesus the Son of God. This time of year, we are more apt to remember the Gospel, to remember that Jesus left the glory of heaven to be born of flesh, suffer, die and rise again to pay for our sins. Our hope is grounded in remembering this every day, every hour, every minute. Jesus not only took our sin on Himself, but He gave us His perfect record of righteousness. Meditate on that for a minute or longer. Have you sinned already today? I know I have, but God doesn’t see my sin when He looks at me. He isn’t shaking His head at me or you and frowning. He isn’t keeping a tally for when we hit the third strike and are out for good. He looks at you and I and sees Jesus’ righteousness. We have hope because we are redeemed and forgiven. We have hope because the Gospel makes us children of God, heirs with Jesus. We have hope because the eternal separation from God that we once had is forever removed. We will eternally be united to the Father. We have the sure and steadfast hope of heaven where there are no more tears, no dying, no sin, no sorrow and no pain. We have the hope of perfect fellowship with God forever and ever.

Third, our God is the God of hope. Our Father is the very source of hope. True hope. Lasting hope. Because of Jesus, we have direct access to the God of hope. Verse 13 says that He fills us by the Spirit with all joy and peace in believing. God fills us. He doesn’t leave us lacking anything we need, and He perfectly knows all our needs. He specifically fills us with joy and peace (Galatians 5:22-23). When you look around you, how much joy and peace do you observe? We have this sure hope: God fills us with all joy and peace.

Fourth, by the power of the Holy Spirt we abound in hope. Praise God that He does not leave us in our own power to claw our way to hope. He gives us the Holy Spirit. I love how Paul depicts the Holy Spirit’s work. It is by His power. This is the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead. Paul gives us a beautiful picture of God’s provision. God isn’t distributing a tiny measure of hope. The hope He gives isn’t restricted or a limited amount. It abounds. It overflows. And the Holy Spirit is your guarantee of this abundant hope.

Child of God, you have hope and it is anchored in our unchanging God.

Reflection

Where is your hope anchored? Is it in another person? A change of circumstances? Or in the God of hope?

To live in the truth of the hope you already have as a child of God, which of the four sources of hope have you been neglecting to anchor in? What steps will you take to rest in that source of hope?