Bible Moment: What is Hope?

“But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:25)

Take a Moment to Ponder

What are the things in which we hope? What are the things that we wait expectantly to receive? I believe that all of us have something in which we hope, something in which we place our confidence, expecting to receive. Whatever that thing is, I pray it is worth placing our confidence in it. The kind of hope that we are encouraged to have is hope in something that we cannot and do not readily see. St. Paul points that out to the Romans by asking them, who hopes for something that they can see. If we hope for something that we can see, it does not test our faith in what God can do for us.

When we hope for something that we cannot see, it tests our faith and our patience. It tests our faith because we are displaying the confidence that God will be kind enough to provide that for which we hope. We must display faith in God because we have placed ourselves in God’s hands trusting that God will provide for us. Our hope is that God will see our need and respond to us, providing for our needs. The kind of faith we should have is a faith that when we cry out to the Lord, we do not have to “follow up” on our requests because thr Lord will work in our favour.

Our patience will be tested if we hope for something we cannot see, in the sense that we must wait for God to work in God’s own time. This is where we now have to wait on God to work everything out in our favour. We have all been hoping and praying for an end to this Pandemic. From last year we would have been hoping and praying for a vaccine to be developed so we can return to normalcy. There was nothing on the horizon at that time, but we were waiting patiently until 2021 when vaccines were approved for use. We must continue to hope in the Lord, and that the Lord will do what seems right in the Lord’s own time.

Practical Action

We need to develop more faith and patience as we hope in the Lord.
We should try to exercise our faith and patience as we continue to hope for what the Lord will do in our lives.

A Moment in Prayer

Gracious God, the Hope of all who trust in you. Enable our faith and patience to be strengthened in you, as we await your working out that for which we hope; give us the confidence to wait on you as you do what is best for us. Help us Lord as we hope, that our faith may be deepened in your love, even as we wait patiently to receive your promise. Grant this petition in the name of the one we hope in, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Contributed by:
Very Rev. Fr. Richard A. Tucker