Devotions this week based on Sunday’s Message: Hope is the Heart of Christmas! (LISTEN HERE)
Romans 15:4 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.
History gives hope.
A cancer patient has hope because history has shown that 80% of people with that type of cancer will go into remission.
A person struggling financially because 90% of people with their skill set are gainfully employed.
A student wrestling with grades realizes that many millionaires never had above a “C” average in school.
History gives hope.
In our secular world, we look at historical percentages. How many people…? (Fill in the blank). If a high percentage of people in the past have had a positive outcome, we have hope that we will have that same positive outcome.
History gives hope.
In this verse from the Apostle Paul, he too realizes that not only does history provide hope, but God’s story, God’s history gives hope.
How so? The stories of Scripture, the people named, and the situations in which they found themselves are all recorded to underscore the faithfulness, power, and ability of God almighty to deliver hope to his people.
Consider Abraham…promised to be the Father of great nations, yet did not have a son. God fixed that with a miracle birth to Sarah.
Consider Joseph…sold into slavery away from his family, yet God orchestrated events so he would be second in command of all Egypt to preserve the lives of many people.
Consider Israel traveling to Babylon as a consequence for sin, yet God did not abandon them, but allowed them to return to rebuild the city and temple in Jerusalem.
Consider God’s chosen people to whom a Messiah was promised, and to whom God fulfilled that promise in Jesus.
The list could go on. Why did the Spirit of God choose to record all these people, stories, and conversations?
So we could have hope.
How so?
In the lives of the real people, in real situations, in a real moment in time God’s promises were shown to be real, his power revealed to be present, and his love remaining always faithful.
The accounts of past events give us true and certain hope that the unchanging God in whom we trust will encourage us and give us endurance when we need it in the moment in time in which we live.
History, God’s story, gives us hope.
Apply: Which Bible story gives you hope and encouragement when hope seem absent or distant?
Prayer: Lord, thank you for never leaving your people without hope. Thank you for recording the events of people and the hope you gave them so we might receive encouragement from them. AMEN.