May Hope Be Your Anchor – Part Two

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15: 13).

        God does not give us enough just to enable us to survive. He wants to fill us with all “joy and peace” that we may abound in hope. Such often can’t come from within us, but by the “power of the Holy Spirit.”

        Everyone struggles. Got that, everyone struggles. As undesirable as your struggle is, it may be purposeful. 

        The struggles of Isaac Watts led him to write “Am I a Soldier of the Cross:” “Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas?” Oh no, you are not alone is your struggle. Your struggle can be uplifting if you, knowing others are struggling, reach out to aid them as an agent used by the Holy Spirit. It dispels self-centerness and gives you a sense of purpose.

        At times you may be so challenged you feel you are personally in a confluence of turbulent seas where there is beauty and danger. Hope is your spiritual GPS.

        A boy once tried to help a butterfly emerge from its cocoon by cutting it open. The butterfly came out weak and never flew because the struggle was what gave it strength.

        Hope helps us endure the struggle because we trust it’s preparing us for flight. Hope enables us to look beyond the cloud of the struggle of a moment to envision how it can strengthen us. Hope keeps the dream of tomorrow alive. It is like a candle shining in the darkest night. It keeps giving its light knowing it can’t dispel the darkness, but it can show the way till the sun shines.

        In the text God is spoken of as “the God of hope.” He is the Author from which it comes, not the Subject to which it is expressed. It is He who wants to fill us with hope. He does so when we believe.

        A small town was selected for the site of a hydroelectric plant. A dam would be built across the nearby river, submerging the city. When the project was announced, the citizens were given ample time to arrange their affairs and relocate. During those months, a curious thing happened. Home improvements, neighborhood upkeep, and infrastructure repairs ceased. The city looked and felt abandoned long before the citizens moved away, and the waters came. One resident explained: “When there is no hope for the future, there is no power in the present.” 

           In the New Testament three adhesives are descriptive of hope: “good” ( II Thessalonians 2: 16); “blessed” (Titus 2: 13); and “living” (Titus 2: 13).

        Hope is the golden key that opens each of them. Belief turns the lock.