The God of hope

Scripture gives God many titles — Almighty, Shepherd, Father, Rock. Tucked into the end of Romans is one of the gentlest: the God of hope. Hope is not merely something He dispenses; it is something He is the source of, the way the sun is the source of morning. Hopelessness, whatever it claims, is never the deepest fact about your situation.

Look at the size of the wording. Fill you — not top you up. All joy and peace — not a manageable amount. That ye may abound — hope with a surplus, enough to spill onto the people near you. Paul prays in wholesale quantities because he knows the supplier.

And notice where the filling happens: in believing. Not in circumstances improving first. The joy and peace arrive along the road of trust, while the situation still looks like the situation. Ask to be filled this morning — the God of hope is not rationing.