Hoping Against Hope

Hoping against hope, he believed. —Romans 4.18 

Rough Translations © Jan Richardson.janrichardson.com 

Hope nonetheless. Hope despite. Hope regardless. Hope still.

Hope where we had ceased to hope. Hope amid what threatens hope. Hope with those who feed our hope. Hope beyond what we had hoped.

Hope that draws us past our limits. Hope that defies expectations. Hope that questions what we have known. Hope that makes a way where there is none.

Hope that takes us past our fear. Hope that calls us into life. Hope that holds us beyond death. Hope that blesses those to come.   

This puppy is the picture of hoping against hope. He waits expectantly at the threshold of the door trusting, knowing, that mom will come back through that door in time. Hope is simply present faith directed toward the future.

Rough Translations is based on Romans 4:18. Hope for us rises from the Apostle Paul’s exposition on Abraham’s impossible journey of faith as the basis of our present faith and hope. Abraham faced impossible odds and life wasn’t smooth, yet he continued to trust God. God’s promises came true in Jesus Christ, the solid rock on which our hope stands!  Christian hope is a living hope, because we are waiting in expectation for Christ, and we trust that the Spirit is with us while we wait in faith. That means being attentive to hearing the Holy Spirit in our lives in the good times and the bad times as we live out our faith.

As Paul writes in Romans, Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Our today and every single tomorrow is in God’s hands. Many things in life are uncertain, but God gave us something sure and certain to trust: Jesus Christ in whom we put all of our hope.  

Read the key verse out loud and say your name in the blank: Hoping against hope, _____________ believed. 

 In hope, Pastor Andrea