But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” vs. 25
Romans 8:22-25
Hope is a big part of the believer’s journey! Because life is not like a novel there’s no way we can look ahead to the last page and see how the story is going to end, and some days that just drives us crazy. It’s not that we haven’t been told what the future will be like–all kinds of scenarios have been laid out for us to consider, and some are better than others. Paul says that if we could see what lies ahead, we wouldn’t have to hope. But since we can’t see, hope is all we have to hang on to, and some days that’s enough. The key is patience, waiting with confidence day after day, trusting that there will be a fulfillment of our deepest dreams. Of course life is long and it’s filled with intermediate hopes all along the way, and sadly some of those don’t turn out so well for us. And those disappointments can sometimes eat away at the big hope we have for reconciliation and completion at the end of our lives. Discouragement sets in, we lose our patience, and all hope goes out the window. Paul says that it’s the Holy Spirit who helps us in our weakness, and amazingly enough, even when we feel overcome by hopelessness, out of nowhere, hope appears. That’s how precious it is. Its resilience is awesome, and it just doesn’t take much to revive it.
Thought for the Day: What are my greatest hopes right now?
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