Hope and Expectation

In meditating on Romans 5, I find it is always encouraging to think of how trials cause us to grow closer to God. It is one thing to find what God’s Word says in the midst of discouragement, but it is another to already have the promise in our hands before the difficulty comes. I think this is the key to developing the kind of hope that is described as an “alert expectation” in the Message translation of this passage.

Romans 5
(Message)
3-5There's more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!

The very last portion of this passage is a great description of how I sometimes feel so thankful to God for His generosity in ways I cannot even begin to describe. It is what God has offered in the mind of Christ as an answer to the philosophy “if I expect the worst, then I won’t be disappointed”. There are times I live with a keen awareness of the ever-present excitement He has placed in every born-again spirit. May we all grow in hope to the point where we are continually aware of the hope of His Calling in this way!

I also like “passionate patience” – it speaks of steadfast, steady, and determined, but with a smile. It is how I imagine Jesus. I like the imagery of heat from trials being used by patience to form or forge the tempered steel of virtue. This is what I desire. It is the expectancy of waiting for what God will do with a difficult situation, knowing it is going to be good because He cannot be anything else BUT good. Of course, every detail of the trial is not always good, but the result the Father desires in us is good.

The spiritual growth and maturity that comes forth is due to the repetition and proving out of this sequence in our lives. I believed this was true before I experienced it several times, but I did not KNOW it to be true in the same way as I do now. I also expect to have a deeper revelation of this hope as I continue to have trials in this life. Every trial causes that hope and faith to grow as God’s faithfulness is proven out again and again in our lives.

Amplified Version

3Moreover [let us also be full of joy now!] let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

4And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character (approved faith and tried integrity). And character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation.

5Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit Who has been given to us.

One thing we need to remind our brothers and sister of is this - endurance is simply to keep on going. Don’t give up and you win. You don’t have to be great at it or feel wonderful or look wonderful. You are enduring and growing simply by continuing to trust in God and to take one step at a time forward in times of trouble. Unswerving is a great word to describe this endurance. If we are on a path lit by the Word of God, we must not swerve, but keep a straight path. The path is narrow but the way is clearly shown – again, often only one step at a time in the middle of dark troubles.

This translation says that the character that is grown through these troubles produces the habit of joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. I want spiritual life to be my habit, rather than a response from the flesh. This becomes a habit by enduring trials. Trusting in the strength of God alone to teach you and guide you and rescue you. It is only by experience that we begin to notice where we are still trusting in our own knowledge or abilities to get us through difficulties. The warning signs become easier to recognize because they all come down to a lack of peace.

Most often, when I miss God speaking to my heart, it is because I have let turmoil become so loud that it is impossible to hear anything resembling a “still small voice.” I must remember to stop a moment, recollect God’s faithfulness, and then seek to step into the life of the Spirit instead of just jumping ahead with my first reaction. In fact, the goal is to have my first reaction be the habit of joyful and confident hope that the Lord is going to lead me if I just relax and let Him do it. He is so amazing!