Day 4 - Hope in God's Promises

Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Hope in God’s Promises

And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our fathers that I am on trial today…
Why should any of you consider it incredible
that God raises the dead?
Acts 26:6,8

Standing before Agrippa, defending himself against the charges of blaspheming God and defaming the temple, Paul used Scripture to turn the tables on his accusers. It was his repeated assertion of the resurrection of Christ that made them livid, causing them to bay for his blood. Some of the Jews (the Sadducees) did not believe in resurrection, but the Pharisees did. They just didn’t want to believe that Christ had been raised.

What do we want to believe? Have we adopted the worldview of fallen humanity, or have we lived according to the story of Scripture? To live by the world’s rules is to discount the possibility of miracle. Dead bodies don’t get resuscitated. Virgins don’t give birth. Men can’t walk on water. Such things are impossible. They simply don’t happen. But when you put God into the equation – everything changes.

To live according to the promises of God is to accept that, because He is God, He can do whatever He wills, as long as it is consistent with His character. We cannot simply discount those promises because they don’t fit in with our worldview. To reject the miraculous is, in the end, to reject God. We can have hope for the future because we trust the One who makes the promises. Hope is grounded in the promises of God, and in the character of the promise-maker who does not change.

Prayer for the Day
Heavenly Father,
forgive us when we follow, too closely,
the wisdom and the ways of the world.
Teach us to see things through the prism of Your Word,
and to trust that what You say, You mean,
and that You will do it.
In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.