Against Hope Believed in Hope

Paul wrote to the Romans about the faith of Abraham and alluded to his struggle to have children and see the promises of the Lord fulfilled for him.  Paul wrote, “Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform” (Romans 4:18-21).  I love that language—Abraham believed in hope even when all rational thinking said otherwise, and he trusted in God that His promises were sure.  This trial of Abraham and Sarah that tested their trust in the Lord is recorded in Genesis.  The Lord told Abraham, “I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her.”  This was incredible to the prophet because he and Sarah were so old: he “fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?” (Genesis 17:16-17).  Later, the promise was again repeated when Abraham received three angels who visited them.  They were told by one of these holy men the following: “I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.”  Again this promise was still incredible to them, for “Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women” (Genesis 18:10-11).  But they hoped in the promise of the Lord, and the Lord came through miraculously and provided them with a son according to the hope and faith they had in God.  

             In other places in the book of Romans Paul sought to encourage us to similarly have a foundation in hope  He invited us to “rejoice in hope of the glory of God” and suggested that we could hold on to hope even through the difficulties of life: “We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which (Romans 5:2-5).  This kind of hope is not just something we might want to have—it is essential to our salvation: “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Romans 8:24-25).  We are to hope for those eternal things that are not seen now and trust in the Hope of Israel for our salvation.  And how do we retain this hope?  Through the words of the scriptures we can be filled with hope: “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4).  One of the purposes of the scriptures is to help us have hope in Christ, to trust in Him, and to patiently wait for the blessings of the Lord.  Even when the trials of life press upon us so that we cannot see our path forward, we can be like Abraham and against hope believe in hope, trusting that in our lives too what God promised, He is able also to perform.