The Waiting Walk

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Roman 15:13

Hope is a powerful emotion. It has literally kept people alive in impossible situations. Prisoners of war have lived on hope and nothing more. It has kept people in abusive relationships from giving up. It has helped armies refuse to surrender and keep fighting against all odds. It has even kept mice alive, swimming in water long after they should have drowned, waiting for rescue.

Hope is powerful.

Christians cling to hope. We have that hope that those we love will be reunited with us in heaven someday. We have a hope that this world is not all there is. We have a hope that someday all wrongs will be made right. We have hope that the power of God is strong enough to change even the hardest heart and mend even the worst broken relationship.

Hope. It keeps us going.

When I read Romans 15:13, I see that hope is truly a gift from God. The God of Hope. The hope that is owned by God. Perhaps we could even say “Now may Hope’s God fill you…”

The New Living Translation describes God as the source of hope, which indeed He is:

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13 NLT

Paul is praying that God will fill his audience with joy and peace. He is just finishing up a section where he has quoted multiple places in the scriptures that say that God cares about the Gentiles and has a place for them too. I absolutely love these references in both Old and New Testaments – I am not Jewish, and it is so reassuring to know that even before God sent His Son to die, He intended and wanted ALL the people of the earth to be part of His family, to have a place with Him on earth as well as in eternity. So Paul is speaking to us here, to me, as he says that he desires to see God fill us up with joy and peace.

Why can we be filled with joy and peace? Because we trust in Him. Truly trusting God will result in our lives being filled with joy and peace. What a promise – most of us could use a little more joy and peace. (Please note that both joy and peace are internal qualities – no matter what is happening to or around us, we can be filled with both joy and peace.)

Once we have allowed God to fill us with that joy, and with His peace, we will abound in hope! The Holy Spirit will flood us with that hope that comes from God. And not just a little. The word “abound” can also be translated as overflow, have more than enough, lavish, to have leftovers, abundance, surpass, excel… the idea here is that you can’t even contain it because there is so much!!!

Have you heard the illustration that whatever is inside your cup is what will spill out when you get bumped? If I have coffee in the cup and you run into me, coffee will spill out. Or water. Or juice. Or whatever it is. If I have water in my cup and you bump me, orange juice won’t come spilling out! Same with our hearts. If I am full of anger, and you “bump into me,” then anger is what will come spilling out. If I am bitter, then when something happens that I don’t like, bitterness will come out. But if I am full of kindness, and you do something rude, then kindness is what will come spilling out. If I am full of love, then love will come spilling out. And what a different encounter is it, when the cup is full of healthy emotions rather than emotions of hurt and pain.

I like to think that this verse is taking it even a step further. This verse isn’t waiting for the cup to get bumped. Someone doesn’t need to do something rude, say something hurtful, or betray your friendship in order to know what is in your cup.

No.

When the Holy Spirit has “filled you completely with joy and peace,” then hope is overflowing already! When they see you walk through that door, they’ll see hope splashing over your edges. When you enter the room, they’ll feel the mist as hope sloshes into their space a bit. When you speak, hope will just come bubbling up; they’ll know what is in your cup.

They will know. Even if they don’t bump you.

I want a hope like that – I want to be living with overflow every single day!

It comes from God.

The God of hope.

The God who fills us.

Will you seek Him today? Will you let Him into your life?

Our amazing God of hope wants to “fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Amen. Let it be so in me.