01 Mar 2022 REFLECTION 1: Joyful In Hope

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12: 11-12

Who hopes for what they already have? Paul asks this question in Romans 8, as he reminds us of the liberation that we are waiting for, even groaning for, along with all of creation and the Spirit itself.

We don’t hope for what we already have, nor do we associate hope with things getting worse. Romans 12:12 (above) highlights the relationship between hope and joy. Whatever our current circumstances may be, we are invited to look toward the hope of God’s gifts of healing, restoration, wholeness, transformation, completion. Sometimes we can’t see hopeful signs around us at all. Sometimes we catch only small glimpses of hope. Sometimes we feel flooded with joyful hope. No matter where we find ourselves, our souls are hungry for the fulfillment of God’s redemptive story, and we are in good company.

The kids in the Lahash Child Sponsorship Program embody this image of joyful in hope. They are well acquainted with feelings of uncertainty and desperation. They know the pain of loss, the emptiness of hunger, and the despair of feeling forgotten. When hope arrives in the form of sponsorship, school enrollment, and full plates of food, joy arrives along with it! They have joy in the present because there is hope for the future.

Being joyful in hope doesn’t cancel out all the hardships and challenges they face. But as they experience the tangible love and presence of God, they begin to trust God as their source of hope. Along with these precious kids, may we all grow together in trusting God, finding out that joyful hope for the future can fill our souls in the midst of what we face today. “May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)

Questions: In your own life or someone else’s, what are you hoping for that you don’t see yet? How do you describe the connection between joy and hope?

Prayer: God of hope, help us to trust you. Fill us with your joy and hope. Reveal your love and presence to us today, even as we wait with anticipation for your redemption of all things to be complete. May our simple meals remind us of our connection to the kids in East Africa, and may we grow in joyful hope along with them. Amen.

DIGGING DEEPER

Here are a few more scriptures for further meditation on our theme for this week:
Psalm 42
Jeremiah 14:19-22
I Peter 1:3-9
Colossians 1:24-29
Isaiah 40:28-31