‘HOPING AGAINST HOPE’

Matthew 13:22 As for what was sown among thorns, that is the one who hears the word, but the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

The word of God is Spirit and life, a seed that must be planted on the soil of our hearts and stand on the manure of faith to grow to fruitfulness. Unfortunately, on the same soil of our hearts are many competing priorities – worries and distractions being some of them.

Therefore, since there is often a contrast, sometimes even a disagreement between what the Word of God says, and what is perceptible in the sense realm, we should not be surprised that the worries and distractions of the word bear in them inherent potential to choke the same Word and thus hinder fruitfulness.

Imagine Abraham receiving the promise that His descendents will be as the stars of heaven when He had no children? What was required to animate that Word is what Paul captured in Romans 4:18 as ‘hoping against hope’. Otherwise, clearly worry would stifle any potential of that word to bear fruit. Not because it was untrue, but because at the time of receiving, it did not look like it.

“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!”(Habakkuk 3:17-18)

So beloved, you have not arrived yet so your life may not look like it. You can still stay expectant of the Word of God, ‘hoping against hope’, that is how it bears fruit in your life.

#sly