I had to turn on the light.
God, is this from you?
As I laid in bed, contemplating the hurt I was feeling, a thought came to my mind…
“Hope doesn’t disappoint.”
With my head on the pillow, in the dark of the night, I was taking my hurt to the Lord, trusting and hoping in His word and truth.
As my mind turned to hope, I had to wonder, am I making this up–or is this really a scripture? “Hope doesn’t disappoint?” I was admittedly disappointed by the events that caused my hurt. I wanted to hope… and if it were just true… for that hope to NEVER disappoint me… if it were just true, oh that would be glorious!
And so I turned on the light, reached for my Bible, and found Romans 5.
“…but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Romans 5:3-5 NKJV
Thank you Jesus, wow!!
Oh how good the Lord is to me! Yes, my hope in the Lord was not going to disappoint me. This was a promise from God, right to my hurting heart. I may be disappointed by many things, but if I put my hope in Jesus, disappointment will never be the result.
It was such a powerful lesson, and assurance. I could end there. But I see more in this verse.
“We glory in tribulations.”
The NLT (New Living Translation) uses the word, rejoice. We rejoice in trials and tribulations? I find it difficult to do. But I have been taught that we rejoice in Jesus THROUGH the trial, not necessarily BECAUSE OF the trial. We rejoice in what we know to be true. What do we know to be true? We see many truths in this verse worth rejoicing over (among many sprinkled all throughout scripture)…
- Trials produce perseverance.
- Character will result from perseverance.
- Hope is birthed from character.
I know that God isn’t done working on me. He has more to do to build my character, to develop my perseverance, to make me more like His Son and to bring me to a place of hope. As yucky as the trial seems, it is growing me so that he may accomplishes these things in my life. Without the trial, I would be self reliant.
Not only do I have hope that through the trials of my life God is building me into the woman He desires, but I also hope in a future that God has promised me. My life is but a vapor, according the Psalmist. Through Salvation in Jesus, I have hope that one day soon there will be no more tears and no more pain. Jesus himself will wipe every tear from my eye. I will see his face, and my name will be written on his forehead. In this, I have hope…
…and that hope will not disappoint me.
