30th Week in Ordinary Time

In hope we were saved. 

A mountain climber had slipped backward over a precipice, but he was able to break his fall by catching hold of a small rocky ledge.   The night was closing in, and hour after hour, he held on desperately.   He was hoping that someone would come along and rescue him.   Finally, he could hold on no longer.   His fingers released their grip, and he began sliding.   Almost immediately, his feet hit solid ground.   A safe level place had been only a short distance beneath him the whole time!

We may feel like that stranded climber in our times of trial.   We feel as if we are hanging on for dear life, clinging to the faint hope that we will be rescued.   We “groan within ourselves as we wait” (Romans 8:23).   But if our hope is in the Lord, we can trust that the solid ground of his love is always right beneath us.   As Paul told the Romans, in hope we are saved (8:24)!

Notice that there’s a big difference between “hoping that” and “hoping in.”   I hope that researchers will discover a cure for diabetes or that God will intervene to heal me.   But I hope in the God who loves me, sustains me, and provides the wisdom and encouragement I need to live with diabetes.   I hope that my wayward child will listen to my advice and repent of destructive decisions.   I hope in the God who loves him far more than I do and is continually seeking him out.   I hope that my financial situation will improve.   But I hope in the Father who provides for my needs out of his abundant resources.

We can hope that our situation improves or that things will turn out for the best.   Those are future events that can help keep us moving forward, and they are appropriate petitions to lay before the Father.   But far more powerful is placing our hope in the God who loves us here and now and who will never abandon us.

“Father, I know that your love is sustaining me right now.   Help me to hope in you and to trust that you hold my future in your loving hands.”

Psalm 126:1-6
Luke 13:18-21

Word Among Us