In Romans 5, the Holy Spirit says through Paul: 5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope.
Bill Bouknight shared this story at preaching.org: “A Rabbi wrote about his experience in a Nazi concentration camp. One evening in the winter of 1944, his father, who was also a prisoner there, took him and some of their friends to a corner of the barracks. He told them it was Hanukkah, and began to light a wick placed in his melted margarine ration.
“The son protested this waste of precious food. His father said, ‘We have seen that it is possible to live up to three weeks without food. We lived almost three days without water once. But you cannot live properly for three moments without hope!’
“If one’s hope is based on circumstances, one must always live in fear. Circumstances change as quickly as the weather. But if one’s hope is based on an ever-faithful God, one can smile in the face of the foulest circumstances. God is bigger than any problem one can ever face.”
This week, my prayer for you is that you will enjoy the hope that comes only from an awareness of the presence of God – and that you will share that hope with others as you proclaim God’s Word.
-Mike Johnson