The God of Hope

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

Of the three great virtues of faith, hope, and love, hope is the one least thought of, least prayed for, and least mentioned in sermons. Whole libraries could be filled with books about faith and love, but one would be hard pressed to fill a single shelf with books about hope. And yet hope is as necessary for the human spirit as water and food are for the body. Without hope, ours is a grim existence.

In his letter to the Romans, perhaps the greatest of all his letters, Paul refers to God as “the God of hope” and prays that his brothers and sisters in Rome would “overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit”. It’s as if the Holy Spirit were a hidden spring, deep within, flooding the soul with hope.

The hope Paul speaks of shouldn't be confused with mere optimism. Nor should it be confused with wishful thinking or imagining rosy outcomes for ourselves. Rather, it's a tough-minded virtue rooted in the character of God and the rock solid surety of his promises. It is exemplified by Christ who, in the face of great darkness on the cross, entrusted his spirit into the hands of the Father. May the power of the Holy Spirit inspire such hope in our hearts.

The Holy Spirit, like a hidden spring deep within, floods the soul with hope.

Called to Be a Comforter

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

In this wounded world of ours comfort is as necessary as bread. How wonderful to know, then, that our God is the God of all comfort and that his desire is to comfort us in all our affliction. Untold numbers can testify to having been comforted by God, either directly through the Holy Spirit or through the words, prayers, and kindness of his servants.

Paul wants us to know that when God comforts us it isn't just for our own benefit. He  wants each of us to become conduits through which his comfort can reach others. In other words, the God of all comfort has called us to become comforters in our own right.

In Christ, our pain and suffering are the school that prepares us for the ministry of comfort. Our wounds, under God, are our teachers.

If you have passed through some singular sorrow and have been comforted by God, know that God has a special work for you to do. It may be tomorrow or it may be ten years from now. God will bring a hurting person into your life and you, drawing from the deep well of experience, will comfort them with the comfort you yourself have received from God.

The God of all comfort has called us to become comforters.

The God of All Comfort

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation.
                                 2 Cor. 1:3-4

Of the many ways God is addressed in Scripture, none are more delightful or spiritually enriching than these words of Paul in the opening of his second letter to the Corinthians. It’s as if fragrant anointing oil were pouring forth from his heart as he addresses God as the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

For many, the thought of God is a source of continual anxiety. They view God as impersonal, distant, and exacting; a critical eye scrutinizing their every move. 

This is not the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The God Jesus came to reveal is first and foremost the Father of mercies, a great ocean of compassion pouring forth countless streams into our parched and wounded world.

Above all, he is the God of all comfort. Note the word all. As the sun is the source of all light in our solar system, so God is the source of all comfort in our world. And he  is supremely generous in dispensing his comfort. The apostle says God  “comforts us in all our tribulation” (note that word all again).

Who we believe God to be, or the character of the God we believe in, has a great impact on our lives. Let us not hesitate to embrace the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as none other than the Father of mercies and God of all comfort.

Let us fully embrace the God of all comfort.

Radical Trust

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

                                                            Proverbs 3:5

There are times when our understanding reaches the end of its tether and we find ourselves groping in the darkness of unanswered questions. More often than not these questions are rooted in trouble or tragedy and begin with the word “why”: Why did I lose my job? Why did my friend’s cancer return? Why did that accident happen?

Frequently there are no answers to these questions, at least not ones that satisfy our hearts. Such times, according to the book of Proverbs, are a call to radical trust: Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

The book of Proverbs does not underestimate the value of knowledge and understanding. Indeed, it urges us to earnestly seek both. But understanding has its limitations and can be utterly inadequate in time of crisis. It does not bring us peace. God does.

We can live with unanswered whys as long as we know in whom we can trust. Wholehearted trust leans not on its own understanding, but on God's everlasting arms. It's the only way to be  “safe and secure from all alarms.”

We can live with unanswered whys as long as we know in whom we can trust.

The Quest of the Wise Men

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem (Matthew 2:1).

This Sunday, January 6^th,  is the Twelfth Day of Christmas, or the Feast of Epiphany. It’s the day we remember the story of the wise men from the Gospel of Matthew.

Misinformation about the story abounds.
For example:

• The famous hymn is entitled “We Three Kings,” but the wise men were almost certainly not kings.

• They are usually pictured at the manger with the shepherds, but Scripture says they came to “the house” not the manger. By the time the wise men came, Mary and Joseph were living in a house. Their visit may have been months or even a year or two after the birth of Christ.

• We say there were three wise men but Scripture doesn’t give their number. We assume there were three because of the three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

None of this, however, obscures the spiritual meaning of the story.

When awakened by the appearance of the star, the wise men were filled with wonder and sought its significance. Then they undertook a quest that took them first to Jerusalem, where they received further illumination from Scripture, and finally to Bethlehem. Upon their arrival in Bethlehem they weren’t satisfied to be mere onlookers or spectators. Scripture says they bowed low to the ground and worshiped the Christ Child with costly gifts.

None of us are beyond God’s reach. He’s willing to send “a star” – something to awaken a sense of spiritual wonder – to all who are far off. The question is, are we willing to undertake the quest? Are we willing to seek until we find? And when, by God’s grace, we do find, are we willing to offer our best to the newborn king?



God will send a star to all who are far off.