HOPE STUCK IN MY THROAT

Suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us. (Romans 5:3–5)

"So, what are your hopes for the next year?" my friend Sarah asked over dinner on New Year's Eve. One by one, our family members articulated their desires for the coming year, but when it came to me, the word 'hope' stuck in my throat and I couldn't bring myself to say anything. Over the past four years I'd had disappointment after disappointment, grief upon grief, and all my hopes had been crushed.

A phrase from the NRSV translation of Romans 5:5 haunted me, "hope does not disappoint us". How could this be true, I pondered, when I felt like hope had done exactly that? Paul, however, was pointing to a specific kind of hope: a spiritual hope. We start with the foundation of "faith" which brings us "peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 1), and our ultimate destination is "sharing the glory of God" (v. 2). Through this future-focused lens, even sufferings are redeemable, because "suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope" (vv. 3–4). It's all part of a process.

I take heart that even though I'm in a season of suffering, I have a secure status of peace with God. Perhaps I'm in the process of developing endurance. Above all, I treasure the future hope of the full glory of God. Wonderfully, that hope – even if all other hopes fail – will not disappoint us.

—Tanya Marlow

God of all hope, thank You that this life and this world are not all there is. Help me to cling to spiritual hope.