Day 10 - Encouraging Hope

Child of Hope: An Advent Devotional

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Encouraging Hope

For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
Romans 15:4

If God is not ultimately in charge of our destinies, then we might as well give up now! If it is not true that, despite the arrogance and downright evil that we see displayed, “God is working His purposes out as year succeeds to year,” then we have no reason to hope. But we do have reason to hope. God is sovereign. This is His world. It moves to the beat of His drum.
Humanist writers have made fun of this belief for years. Voltaire, in Candide, wrote mockingly of those who believe that this is the best of all possible worlds. When the evidence of our eyes is so opposed to belief in a benevolent God, why do we continue with what atheists call “the great deception”? The answer lies in the prevalence of sin in our world. Of course this is not the best of all possible worlds, but God did not intend that it should be as it is. Human sin has soiled the perfection God created. But when Christ returns everything will change; this world shall not remain a vale of tears.

We must continue to affirm that God’s purposes will be fulfilled, despite the evil men do. Paul reminds us, in Romans 15, that hope requires endurance – we must persevere, never give up – but it also requires the encouragement that comes from the Bible. How does the Bible encourage us? By recounting the story of salvation history the Bible demonstrates that God has a plan. History has a purpose. Though we may not see that purpose accomplished in our time, one day it shall be. God’s purposes are rooted in His character. He is relentless in His pursuit of a new heaven and a new earth where all who trust in Him shall sit down together in peace. He has been faithful in the past. He will be faithful in the future. Therefore, we have hope.

Prayer for the Day
Almighty God,
Your ways are not our ways,
Your thoughts are not our thoughts,
Your wisdom is unsearchable, yet Your love never ends.
Lead us, though it be through tears,
to the future You have prepared for us,
in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.