Hope, No Matter What 

(our theme for September)

Romans 5:5

And hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.

At first glance, this verse may inspire a reaction of skepticism. “Hope does not disappoint us?!?” How many times have we hoped for something that simply didn’t come into being?

In my house when there is potential for something good to come our way, my wife has said to me on more than one occasion, “I’m not getting my hopes up. If it ends up happening, I’ll just be pleasantly surprised. I’d rather that than be disappointed.” 

But I don’t think that’s exactly to what this verse refers.

In the verses leading up to this one, we read, “we boast in our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope,” before we read that hope does not disappoint. 

So, are we to understand, then, that we cannot have hope without first enduring suffering? That doesn’t seem right.

In Romans 8, we read “I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.” And later on, that we “who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved.” And finally, it says “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.” 

In other words, this is not the hope we might feel for something that we think might happen, which may or may not actually materialize. This is a different hope. The hope for God to hear us, the hope for eternal peace with our Maker, the hope for “adoption and redemption.” That hope is one about which we can have greater certainty. And it isn’t saying that in order to be with God, we must first face affliction. No, it is saying that when we face affliction, we must remember that the surety of God can still give us hope. Our hope is grounded in knowing that, whatever suffering we may experience, we have the goodness of God’s redemption to hope for. Thanks be to God.

Let us pray.

God, when we face affliction in this world, remind us that we have the surety to hope for your adoption and redemption. Remind us that it is never futile to hope in you, for you will not disappoint us. Amen. 

This devotion was written and read by Dwight Dockery.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life. 

If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org. 

First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.