God of Hope (W.o.W. Rewind)

 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Baal was worshiped as a god of fertility. Asherah was worshiped as a goddess of love and war. Judaism and Christianity have always held that God is the God not only of a few things but of all things. Yet, occasionally in Scripture, He is designated as the God of something in particular. Romans 15:13, for example, designates Him as the God of hope. This should not be understood in exclusion to other things as though God being the God of hope means that He is not the God of the Highest Heaven, but rather should be understood as a literary device used to give special emphasis to this certain thing that is unique to God.

But why hope? Many elements of the Christian faith trace their origin back 2,000 years to the time of Christ. This is impressive in itself, but the Christian heritage of hope extends much farther back in history. Hope has been a cornerstone of our faith since God first promised that "the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent" (Gen 3:15) as He cast Adam and Eve out of the garden.  This hope of a future Messiah always pointed forward to the great Cornerstone of our faith who would fulfill it: Christ. Now that He has come, now that our debt has been paid and our salvation is sure, how could any believer lose hope? In any situation, no matter how grim, Christians ought never lose hope! 

Provided that our hope has been placed in the right person, we have a supernatural supply of hope. One that is never ending and fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. We bring it to remembrance by reading God's Word (Romans 15:4). So, no matter what your circumstances are today, make sure you are placing your hope in Jesus and never in the things of this world. Remind yourself of the precious promises of God found in His Word and of the examples who have gone before us. And place your hope in Christ once more. We ought to be the most hopeful of all people for we alone have a sure hope that can never prove untrue.

God of Hope

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Baal was worshiped as a god of fertility. Asherah was worshiped as a goddess of love and war. Judaism and Christianity have always held that God is the God not only of a few things but of all things. Yet, occasionally in Scripture, He is designated as the God of something in particular. Romans 15:13, for example, designates Him as the God of hope. This should not be understood in exclusion to other things as though God being the God of hope means that He is not the God of the Highest Heaven, but rather should be understood as a literary device used to give special emphasis to this certain thing that is unique to God.

But why hope? Many elements of the Christian faith trace their origin back 2,000 years to the time of Christ. This is impressive in itself, but the Christian heritage of hope extends much farther back in history. Hope has been a cornerstone of our faith since God first promised that "the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent" (Gen 3:15) as He cast Adam and Eve out of the garden.  This hope of a future Messiah always pointed forward to the great Cornerstone of our faith who would fulfill it: Christ. Now that He has come, now that our debt has been paid and our salvation is sure, how could any believer lose hope? In any situation, no matter how grim, Christians ought never lose hope! 

Provided that our hope has been placed in the right person, we have a supernatural supply of hope. One that is never ending and fueled by the power of the Holy Spirit. We bring it to remembrance by reading God's Word (Romans 15:4). So, no matter what your circumstances are today, make sure you are placing your hope in Jesus and never in the things of this world. Remind yourself of the precious promises of God found in His Word and of the examples who have gone before us. And place your hope in Christ once more. We ought to be the most hopeful of all people for we alone have a sure hope that can never prove untrue.

A Thoroughly Optimistic Religion

Just before dawn Paul urged them all to eat. “For the last fourteen days,” he said, “you have been in constant suspense and have gone without food—you haven’t eaten anything. Now I urge you to take some food. You need it to survive. Not one of you will lose a single hair from his head.” After he said this, he took some bread and gave thanks to God in front of them all. Then he broke it and began to eat. They were all encouraged and ate some food themselves.

Acts 27: 33-36

What were you doing fourteen days ago? Go ahead and pull out your calendar; I'll wait. 

Now, can you imagine having not eaten at all in these past fourteen days? Not for lack of food but for lack of hope? The situation that Paul and his companions find themselves in is so dire that they have no reason to think they will live long enough for eating to matter. 

If I understand the passage correctly, their ship is being driven along by a storm. They are stuck somewhere in the midst of a storm of hurricane force (vs. 14) and are being driven along with it wherever it goes. Try to imagine the scene. These men are waterlogged. Their hands and feet are pruney and wrinkled from the constant dampness caused by wave after wave washing over the ship and dripping down between the boards to the lower decks. Everything stinks of the sea by now. All hope is gone. It seems that even the passing of time has stopped since neither the sun nor the stars have appeared for many days (Acts 27:20). These hardened sailors know that it is their fate to be battered by this storm indefinitely until it finally takes their lives. They are fourteen days in, and all hope is gone.

What could cause someone to find hope in a situation this dire? Sure, if the storm breaks they will feel better, but what could possibly cause them to find hope in the middle of the storm? Only Christianity! Their pagan religions gave them no relief. It wasn't until Paul spoke and told them of God's promise that they were even able to find enough hope to eat. 

But now I urge you to keep up your courage, because not one of you will be lost; only the ship will be destroyed. Last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me and said, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand trial before Caesar; and God has graciously given you the lives of all who sail with you.’ So keep up your courage, men, for I have faith in God that it will happen just as he told me.” Acts 27:22-25

Christianity is a thoroughly hopeful religion. This is no religion for the pessimist or the sour individual. No! God's goodness, His unchanging nature, and His commitment to keep His promises give the believer confident hope even when there is no other reason to hope. And that is okay, for no other reason to hope is needed once the Lord has said what He will do. His Word is all we need. The Lord has said it and that is enough. 

Consider how thoroughly optimistic Christianity is. God has said that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him, whom He has called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). He has promised that He will never leave or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5). He has promised to one day return and take us to be with Him in paradise for eternity (I Thessalonians 4:16). That all may sound rather "pie in the sky" to some people, but take no notice of their opinion. He has proven Himself true to His Word over and over again. 

So, whatever you are facing today, however, hopeless it may seem, find a promise of God to cling to and get up! Wash your face. Eat some food. And press on. Choose to obey Him in hope as you eagerly wait for the storm to break and your refuge to appear. He has not abandoned you! And who knows, maybe your ability to find hope in God will be the light those around you need to take courage and find hope in the living God as well.

Hope for Hurting Hearts

When the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched it were healed.

Matthew 14:35-36

The gospels regularly highlight the miraculous nature of Jesus' work on earth. It would be hard to overestimate the dramatic impact Jesus had on the lives of the people He healed. Think for even a moment about the woman who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years (Matthew 9:20), or the woman who had been crippled by demonic possession for eighteen years (Luke 13:10-13) and it's impossible to deny the amazing life change Jesus wrought for them. Even more, if you pause to consider that the man Jesus healed by the pool of Bethesda had been invalid for thirty-eight years (John 5:5-9) or that the blind man He healed in John 9 had never known sight at all, then it's impossible to miss how completely their lives were turned around. 

Today's passage, however, highlights for us just how easy it was for Jesus to bring about these major changes. All it took was one touch of the garments He wore and the course of a person's whole life was changed.

This should bring us hope. It tells us that our problems and our struggles are not beyond God's power! Whatever you are anxious about today, whatever you are stressed about, whatever keeps you awake at night is easy for God to handle. But this truth that ought to bring us joy and cause us to reach out to God in faith like the people in this story reached out to touch His cloak, instead often causes us to doubt and to question.

"If it's easy for God to solve my problems, then why doesn't He?" We ask. "Is God punishing me? Does He enjoy the fact that I am suffering? Why isn't He helping me?"

As believers we know that God is good and loving and that He doesn't take joy in our suffering. He has promised us that although not everything that happens to us will be good, He will work all things together for our good (Romans 8:28). And so, we choose to trust that God hasn't solved our problems yet because there is some good for us in them. There is some good in us learning to hope in Him, in learning to wait on Him, in learning to reach out to Him and pray to Him. Sometimes there is even good in persevering through the trial. (According to II Corinthians 12:7, Paul's thorn in the flesh was ordained to help keep him from pride.) 

It's hard for us to imagine that the things which pain and challenge us have been allowed or even ordained by God for our good. But if we are to believe in a good and a sovereign God, then we must accept this truth. If you are struggling to do so today, then I commend to you Psalm 13. Make it the cry of your hurting heart. Make it your prayer.

How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
  How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
  and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
  How long will my enemy triumph over me?

Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
  Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
  and my foes will rejoice when I fall. 

But I trust in your unfailing love;
  my heart rejoices in your salvation.
I will sing the Lord’s praise,
  for he has been good to me.

Powerless

But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him.

Acts 2:24

I go to quite a few funerals. As a minster it's something I've grown used to. But recently, as I sat at the funeral of a dear church member, I realized that I couldn't quite make sense of what I was feeling. I knew it was something that I feel at all funerals, but what was it?

I knew it wasn't hopelessness, because I am convinced that the dead in Christ shall rise (I Thess. 4:16). I know that the Christian hope is to receive a resurrection body like Christ's and to live eternally with Him. So I knew it wasn't hopelessness. Slowly, I realized that what I was feeling was helplessness. I felt powerless in the face of death. 

To me this feeling of powerlessness hangs heavy over funerals. I see it in the eyes of the family members. They would give anything to have their loved one back healthy and happy; but they are powerless before the irrevocable certainty of the death. I feel their pain and want dearly to offer comfort, but I feel helpless to give them what they really want. I can't take the pain away. I can't bring their loved one back. So I mourn with them. I pray for them. And I celebrate the contributions their loved one made to the life of our church. 

I can only imagine that this captures something of what the disciples of Jesus must have felt during the time Jesus was in the tomb. Helpless, powerless, and at that time they probably even felt hopeless. And just as the events of Easter met those disciples right at their place of need; it meets us at ours as well. Easter reminds the believer that death is not the ultimate reality for those who are in Christ Jesus: life is! Though we stand helpless before death, God does not. He has conquered death in Christ, and one day very soon death will be no more. God is not powerless before death. Death has been conquered. It has been swallowed up in victory. 

When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"  (1 Corinthians 15:54-55) 

Envy Much?

Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the LORD always. Surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

Proverbs 23:17-18 (NASB)

Who do you envy? Is it a famous person? Someone who makes a living off of sexual innuendo and getting other people to lust after them? Is it a rich person? Someone who shuts their ears to the cries of the poor while they increase their own luxury? The Bible says we should be careful who we envy. Envy in itself is akin to covetousness which breaks one of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:17). To covet is to be driven by envy to want what someone else has. But do you know what's worse than coveting? Coveting after the yield of sin, because it has the potential to cause even more destruction in your life.

It is tempting to envy the wicked. Often we can relate to the psalmist who says, "For I was envious of the arrogant as I saw the prosperity of the wicked... Behold, these are the wicked; and always at ease, they have increased in wealth" (Psalm 73:3, 12). Often as we look around us it seems the innocent suffer without end while the wicked prosper. It's easy to conclude with the psalmist, "Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence." It's easy to think that we are missing the boat... that we would be much better off if we began patterning our lives after the prosperous wicked. But God's antidote for this type of wrong-headed thinking is to urge us to live in the fear of the Lord. Why? What does the fear of the Lord have to do with envying sinners? The next verse gives us the clue we need. For those who live in the fear of the Lord, there is a future and their hope will not be cut off. 

This leads us to the same conclusion the psalmist finds: "Then I perceived their end. Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment!" (Psalm 73:17-19a). There is no future hope for the sinner. Their future is God's righteous judgment on their sin. That is why fear of the Lord is the fitting antidote. Fear of the Lord reminds one that God will one day judge the living and the dead, and it urges us to obey His commands to avoid judgment. When we live in the fear of the Lord we preserve our hope and future by choosing to follow God's commands. 

So as you find yourself tempted to envy sinners, read Psalm 73 and remind yourself how it ends. "For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord God my refuge, that I may tell of all Your works" (Psalm 73:27-28). And if you have not yet submitted your life to the fear of the Lord by giving your life to Jesus, then choose to repent of your life of sin and ask forgiveness today, surrendering yourself to His way of living life for good. (For more information on becoming a Christian, click here.)

For further reading...

• Read all of Psalm 73.