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.
How do you describe God? God describes Himself in Scripture a lot of ways, but when you honestly reflect upon who God is, who do you think of Him as? “Honestly” is an important word here as we may know the correct answer according to Scripture, but our wounded souls may be holding onto some description of God that lies outside of what Scripture tells us of His character and nature.
In Romans 15, Paul describes God as “the God of hope.” Interestingly, this is the only time in all of the New Testament that God is described in this way.* Why would Paul only describe God in this way once when such a description is so important? Think about the importance of knowing that God is “the God of hope.”
We live in a world that speaks of and experiences death, sickness, war, and injustice as if these are our daily bread. We live in a world that paints a bleak picture of destruction for each of our futures. God knows that we need hope, and He knows that we need to know that hope comes from Him. As the God of hope, He is the source of hope that we all need.*
In chapter 14 of Romans, Paul tells his audience that the present Kingdom of God consists of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.* In this portion of the letter to the church in Rome, Paul bestows these things upon God’s people.* Paul sends this prayer-wish to the church in Rome, praying that they live and receive the Kingdom of God here in this life, today.
This prayer-wish isn’t etherial and inaccessible, however. Paul marks faith as the access to peace and joy.* The Kingdom of God and indeed the peace and joy that we all need in life comes only as we place our trust in Him.* This trust (faith) is a total reliance upon God.*
I wonder how many of us are missing peace and joy in our lives because we will not place our full reliance upon God? I wonder how many of us have no hope in our lives because we do not trust in Him? How many of us do not trust Him because of the way that we describe God? Do you describe Him as “Father,” but think that He shares the same characteristics as your absent of abusive father? Do you describe God as distant because you were unsure how to find Him during times of difficulty? Did times of difficulty in this broken world cause you to describe God as uncaring? These and countless other inaccurate descriptions of God cause us not to trust Him, thus causing us to miss out on the peace and joy that we so desperately need.
God is both the object of hope and the source of hope.* The hope we find in Him and from Him comes only as we fully trust in Christ.* Therefore, joy and peace are completely impossible without Christ.*
Paul desires that we all abound in hope; he prays that we overflow with hope.* This cannot happen, Paul notes, without the power of the Holy Spirit.* How many of us scrape the surface of hope because we diminish, ignore, or forget the importance of the Holy Spirit in our lives?
We see, in the Kingdom of God, that those who wish to live as recipients of the Kingdom of God (walking in righteousness, peace, and joy) must engage with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.* We must embrace all of who God is.
Again, why would Paul only describe God this way once when such a description is so important?
There are many ways that God can get our attention. Sometimes God gets our attention by saying things over and over. Other times, like here in Romans 15, God gets our attention by saying something once and never changing His mind about it.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember the thing that God said to you once but is waiting for you to ask Him about and remember. Perhaps today God wants you to overflow with hope. Maybe today God wants you to experience peace and joy like never before. Perhaps today God wants you to place full reliance upon Him. Maybe today God wants you to be honest about who you think He is so that He can trade your hurt for healing and inaccuracies for truth.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
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*Kruse, C. G. (2012). Paul’s Letter to the Romans (D. A. Carson, Ed.; p. 534–535). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Apollos.
Osborne, G. R. (2004). Romans (pp. 384). InterVarsity Press.
Morris, L. (1988). The Epistle to the Romans (pp. 506–507). W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.
Moo, D. J. (2000). Romans (pp. 479–480). Zondervan Publishing House.