TAKING INVENTORY OF OUR HOPE IN THE LORD
(Part 4)
Rom. 15:13
Morning Meditation 6/1/17
Verse 13 says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.”
As we look back on 1998 it would be good to ask ourselves the question, “Where has my hope been? Has it been in the Lord and His Word or in the government and the stock market?” It is easy to get side tracked and find ourselves expecting something from the world that they can’t give. We are not of this world, and therefore, if our hope is misplaced, there can be nothing but disappointment. Are we ending this year depressed because our expectations were not His will?
Paul says, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing . . .” God is called “the God of hope.” He is the source of hope Paul says. He is the God of it.
Listen to David in Psalms 31:24: “Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.” It would appear that David takes on the roll of a teacher here. He seems to be speaking to the discouraged. What advise do you give to the discouraged? You say, “be of good courage,” but you don’t stop there. If you were to stop there it would be MIND OVER MATTER. But you continue as David did, “and he shall strengthen your heart.” God will intervene. He will move into your experience. It is not just an imaginary situation. God affects our real lives. We have a HEART. That heart is not just the blood pumping heart. It is the very spring and depths of who we are. We are not our body. We are living souls. We are new creations in Christ. And God will experientially relate to us in this life (not just after we go to heaven) where we really live. He will strengthen our heart. Are you like the wheel on a worn out wagon, wobbling on the axle? David says God will fix us. He will “strengthen your heart.” Then he adds something very important: “all ye that hope in the LORD.”
That brings us back to taking inventory of our hope. Paul said, “Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing . . .” The word “believing” translates “pisteuo” and means, “to be persuaded of a thing, to place confidence in the accuracy of a thing.” It is a present tense and means to live continuously believing in the accuracy of God’s promises, counting them to be true and allowing the truths believed to be the governing force of our lives.
Psalms 33:22 says, “Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” Here God’s people are instructed to hope for God’s mercy. This means the Psalmist is reaching out to those who have failed. They need mercy. If you think you have done a good job this past year, this verse won’t have anything to offer you. But if you feel that you have failed miserably and missed being fine tuned to God many times, this verse should spark hope in you. Those of us who have failed miserably have hope in this verse. Mercy is for failures! The hope here is for God’s mercy not for His justice.. The man here is not hoping that God will give him what he deserves. He is hoping in the God of mercy. Amen. Someone hold my mules!!! Hallelujah.
David says in Psalms 39:7: “And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee.” Waiting is involved in placing our hope in the Lord. I believe waiting is one of the most difficult things the believer does. And here is where many of us fail. Abraham and Sarah had the promise of Isaac. But God did not fulfil that promise for many years. I believe it was about twenty five. There may have been some hope of them having a child when they were in the latter sixties or seventies. But God waited until Sarah was 90 and Abraham was 100. “Doesn’t God know that it is impossible to have children at this age, said Sarah.” Abraham answered, “Your right. But what do you propose?” Sarah said, “I have been thinking. Hagar my maid is faithful. She is like one of the family. Maybe God meant for us help fulfil His promise. Maybe we are not supposed to wait. You know God gave us a brain to think with. Let’s use it.” Abraham said, “Sarah, in a way I can’t imagine you saying that. But it is really not a bad idea.” So Abraham went to bed with Hagar and conceived Ishmael in his old age. But God would have none of it. Abraham and Sarah discovered too late to avoid Ishmael, that when God makes a promise, he does not need our help. I think a lot of us have an Ishmael or two that is the product of our attempt to help God fulfil His promises to us. We quit waiting and started thinking!
The good part of this story is that in spite of Abraham’s wrong thinking and wrong acting, God had made a promise and Abraham still inherited the promise. Romans 4:18-22 says, “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. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.” Do you notice that Abraham is credited for faith and nothing is said about Ishmael? That is grace. Do you notice when David is mentioned in the New Testament, his sin is not referred to? That’s what grace does.
What does it mean, “Who against hope believed in hope?” It means that everything that is possible spoke out in Abraham’s mind against the promise God had made . But Abraham believed that what God had promised He was able to fulfil. It is highly possible that someone reading these lines has had an Ishmael born of your rational mind this past year. You cannot undo what is done. But you can, because of God’s grace, take up the walk of faith again. God blessed Ishmael in spite of Abraham’s error. But God did not recognize Ishmael as a fulfilment of His promise. Gen. 22:2 says, “And he said, Take now thy son, THINE ONLY SON ISAAC, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Caps mine for emphasis). Impossibilities are not to be considered once the will of God is determined. And it may involve a wait that will try one’s faith sorely.
The Psalmist talks to himself in Psalm 42:5: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.” This is self-instruction. Do you ever talk to yourself? You should with Scripture. Psalm 119:49 says, “Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.” Our hope is founded on the promises of God in His Word. He will still keep His Word. If Jesus were to come to you and speak audibly, He would say nothing different that He says in the Word of God. This is His Word to us today and the Holy Spirit will illuminate our minds and guide us into all truth (John 16:13).
Paul says in Romans 8:25: “But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” I have had God answer my prayers before I got them out of my mouth. Then there were other times that it seemed the answer would never come. I have to admit that there have been a few Ishmaels born to my embarrassment. But thank God He is faithful and does not throw us away because we make mistakes.
We are about to enter a new year. We can do better if we will look back and make our stumbling stones stepping stones for the new year. People are talking about Y2K. Y2K is not what concerns me. It is today and tomorrow as I work “out my salvation with fear and trembling’ (Phil. 2:12). The Lord may come. I believe in the pre tribulation rapture of the saints. And I believe it is near. If He doesn’t come in 1999 I will trust Him with my whole heart as I step over the thresh hold of 2,000 with absolute confidence that He has not changed and will not forsake me no matter what happens.
May the Lord bless these words to our hearts.
In Christ
Bro. White
