Hope

What has the Pandemic and its ongoing effects produced in us? Possible answers are:  anxiety, frustration, fear, and feelings of helplessness. The list goes on and each of us have a collection of words we would use as answers. While we try our best to see the good, I venture to guess that all of us have suffered in multiple ways as a direct result of this Pandemic and its ripple effects.

So, it’s surprising to read that Paul, in his letter to the church in Rome, postulates that hope is an outcome of suffering. Just about the time we are ready to throw in the towel, we can find encouragement from a man who was no stranger to suffering. (See 2 Cor 11:23-28)

What Suffering Produces:

Did you consider that suffering can produce hope? Not hope as something we attempt to cling to in the midst of a bad situation, but as something PRODUCED by suffering. The effect of suffering is hope. Isn’t that just like our gracious God to turn human logic upside-down like that? 

Paul gives us the progression of this heavenly perspective in Romans 5. Verse 2 reads: “we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

“Sure,” you might say, “we can rejoice in the hope of our future in heaven with God, but how does that help us here and now, as we all suffer in a variety of ways?”

Wait, Paul’s not finished yet. He continues in the following verses, “Not only that” he says. “But we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Let’s define some words here:

1. “Suffering” in this context is a Greek word that means “pressure: afflicted, anguish, burdened, persecution, tribulation, trouble.” Can you relate to any of those?
2. “Hope” in this context is a Greek word that means “to anticipate, usually with pleasure; expectation or confidence.”

Here is the progression:

 Suffering -> endurance  ->  character  -> hope

James Chimes In

James encourages us in James 1:2-5 to let endurance (same word used in Romans 5) have its full effect. This word for “endurance” is “the characteristic of a man who is unswerving from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trails and sufferings” (Blue Letter Bible). Endurance implies that it’s not going to be short or easy. But Scripture tells us that the end result is hope.

Paul goes on in Romans 15 to give us another key. “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4) Scripture was written to give us encouragement and hope for our good days and our days of suffering.

The additional instruction here is “encouragement of the Scripture,” which is another way to find hope. So how do we do this? How do we endure and how do we find encouragement? Verse 5 tells us that God IS THE GOD of ENDURANCE and ENCOURAGMENT! It’s not just that He knows a thing or two about it and can give us some pointers. No! He is THE GOD of it. We lean into Him, the God of endurance and encouragement. Spoiler alert: according to verse 13 He is also the God of…have you guessed it yet? HOPE!

In a divine plot twist, suffering becomes the impetus for hope.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)