Notes on Hope Devotional

What Hope Isn’t

Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

Hope is hard to define. Like the air we breathe, we know it’s there. It’s like when we can see our breath in the cold air. There’s evidence under certain conditions.  We know it as we sense our chest inhale and exhale. It’s vital to our existence. So is hope.

Today’s verses look at how hope is produced. And what it isn’t. 

There’s a progressive process to develop hope. Verse 3 in chapter 5 of Romans is the starting point: suffering. Really, it has to start there? Suffering is the engine that drives the car toward hope. More often than not, we find ourselves avoiding, preventing, escaping, and denying when faced with suffering. If we live long enough, we recognize that suffering is unavoidable. Pain will come through the door in the form of a diagnosis, divorce, or death. It can come in as discouragement, disappointment, and depression. Pain is the entrance on our journey toward hope.

What does suffering do in us? Verse 4 says, “perseverance and character." The Holman Christian Study Bible says, “endurance produces proven character.” Endurance and character sound like qualities we would like to inhabit except they come at a cost.  Endurance comes from hanging in there, plowing through, and continuing when giving up seems easier. Proven character is the outcome of enduring trial and pain; a character that only develops through our suffering that results in hope. Verse 5 states, “hope does not put us to shame...” The Holman Christian Study Bible offers another version, “a hope that does not disappoint.”

If that’s what hope isn’t, then what is it? Pastor and author Paul David Tripp offers this; “Sturdy hope that does not vanish with the constant changes in situations, locations, and relationships that make up all of our lives-hope that simply will never, ever disappoint us-can be found only in one place. True lasting hope is never found horizontally. It’s only ever found vertically, at the feet of the Messiah, The One who is Hope.”

Let’s stay firmly fixed to this hope that does not disappoint.

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for being our Hope, here on earth and beyond. Grant us the eyes to see where we have misplaced our hope in people or things. Deepen our awareness of the hope that comes from our suffering as we keep our eyes fixed on You. In Jesus Name, Amen.