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  • Anneke de Jong

Hope Springs Eternal

By: Anneke de Jong You may listen to this devotion in audio form via podcast here.


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


Last Christmas, my family received at least a dozen Christmas cards with Romans 15:13 on them (including our own). With good reason – if ever there was a time when people needed a message reminding them that God is our source of hope, it was in 2020. This verse is packed with the kind of encouragement and reassurance that our hearts long for, especially when we face a challenging year and difficult circumstances.


These words are even more powerful when you look at them in the context of the passage that they conclude. In Romans 15:4 Paul writes, “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”


The Scriptures are filled with evidence that God is the source of true hope because He is the God of promises made and promises kept. Paul gives examples from each section of the Old Testament canon - the law, the prophets and the wisdom literature. His quotes come from psalms of praise written by David and Moses and conclude with a prophecy of Isaiah that is being fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Paul is showing his readers that God has kept the promises He made to Israel and that all of Scripture points to a God who will complete the plans He has for his people.


David, Moses, and Isaiah also spoke about the Gentiles. The fulfillment of God’s promises would bless the nations around Israel. In fact, God’s plans are for every nation, tribe, people, and tongue. (Revelation 7:9). Paul has made it very clear throughout the entire letter to the Romans that the Jews were to “welcome one another as Christ has welcomed them.” (Romans 15:7 ESV) This message has profound implications for us today. It’s only by God’s great mercy that this hope is also for us, and in turn for those around us.


When we read Romans 15:13 by itself, we tend focus on our own joy and peace that come from trusting God and our own hope that the Holy Spirit fills us with. But the larger passage doesn’t allow us to do that. And really, the verse doesn’t either. Consider the image of overflowing with hope. God does not just fill us with hope, but with an excess of hope, so like a bubbling spring that cannot contain its flow of water, the hope that we have in Christ Jesus will overflow from our lives and spill into the lives of all those around us.


Our God is the God of hope, and when we trust in him, he will fill us with joy and peace until we overflow with a hope that come from Christ alone. What a reason to rejoice, to give God glory and to share the good news of this eternal hope with a desperate and weary world!


The modern hymn, Oh Sing Hallelujah!, says it so well:


What is our hope in life and death?

Christ alone, Christ alone

What is our only confidence?

That our souls to him belong

Who holds our days within his hand?

What comes, apart from his command?

And what will keep us to the end?

The love of Christ, in which we stand


O sing hallelujah!

Our hope springs eternal

O sing hallelujah!

Now and ever we confess

Christ our hope in life and death




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