Romans 15:13 “I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Where else does hope, joy, and peace come from if not from trusting in God? Relying on institutional hubris, “believe in yourself” drivel, and atheistic dogma cannot deliver the goods. If human beings – and all the lesser wonders of the created universe – are merely products of random, purposeless, and impersonal forces that did not have us in mind, well then … how suffocating and dismal is this empty charade called life. To think otherwise is not to think at all.
The late Carl Sagan used to say that the cosmos is “all that is or was or ever will be.” To think honestly and deeply about this statement will not bring on the noble thoughts Sagan intended but a kind of claustrophobia. A closed system of cause and effect is like being trapped in a sealed box, a coffin. I become nothing more than an accident of chance, my sense of consciousness merely an illusion of haphazard chemical reactions. What a delightful contrast to believe in God’s existence – and to know and be known by him! Like throwing open the box to let in light and air, it is resurrection to true life.
In the worldview of the Bible, God’s existence is axiomatic. He created us and we are accountable to him. We have personality and consciousness because they derive from God himself. God loves and cherishes human beings so much that he entered space and time on a rescue mission, paying with his own blood the deadly price that we owed because of our rebellion against him. I cannot help but be astonished by this understanding. Life is flooded with purpose. Even the smallest of circumstances is saturated with meaning. God cares about my life and understands where it is going, even through uncertainty and suffering. In fact, he wants to fill my life completely with his joy and peace because I trust in him. He wants me to overflow with confident hope through the power of his Holy Spirit alive in me.
Father, like the apostle Paul, I pray for myself and for others to be filled completely with your Holy Spirit’s joy, peace, and hope. Please awaken all who have been asleep in self-deception, who have been ignoring the logical consequences of their belief system. Let the uncertainties of this current time lead many more to the foot of the cross where true life is found in Jesus Christ.
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This week: Each morning, pray the exact words of Romans 15:13 for neighbors, friends, and family. Pray for government and business leaders. Pray for all people of the world to know the true Source of hope. Also, as you consider this week’s blog, take seven minutes to listen and meditate on the words of this most worshipful of songs.