Mark Tabata’s Weekday Devotionals:
Tuesday March 17 2026
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Hebrews 6:18-19 (ERV)-These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he says something, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. So these two things are a great help to us who have come to God for safety. They encourage us to hold on to the hope that is ours. 19 This hope is like an anchor for us. It is strong and sure and keeps us safe. It goes behind the curtain.
Hope.
What a beautiful word!
In the Bible, hope is not a flimsy feeling of optimism in difficult circumstances. It is a confident expectation that all things will work together for good for God’s people (Romans 8:28), even when we do not always understand exactly “how” those things will work out. This confidence is not based on our understanding of “how” things will work out for good, but rather on our knowledge of He Who is the Source of our hope, and that HE knows!
When Paul wrote Romans, there were lots of challenges the church faced (both from within and from without). Near the end of the Book, He teaches us how to have God’s hope in our difficult situations.
Romans 15:13-Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let’s take a careful look at this prayer.
First, he reminds us of the Source of our Hope: God Himself! Notice that God is here called the “God of hope.” What an incredible description of our God! It powerfully reminds us that God brings hope, but also that He also is our hope. I love the words of William
Barclay here:
“It has long ago been said that there are no hopeless situations; there are only men and women who have grown hopeless about them. It is told that there was a meeting of the British cabinet in the darkest days of the Second World War, just after France had capitulated. The prime minister, Winston Churchill, outlined the situation in its starkest colours. Britain stood alone. There was a silence when he had finished speaking, and on some faces was written despair, and some would have given up the struggle. Churchill looked round that dispirited company. ‘Gentlemen,’ he said, ‘I find it rather inspiring.’ There is something in Christian hope that not all the shadows can quench–and that something is the conviction that God is alive. No individual is hopeless as long as there is the grace of Jesus Christ; and no situation is hopeless as long as there is the power of God.” (William Barclay, The Letter to the Romans (The New Daily Study Bible), 279-280 (Kindle Edition): Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press)
Throughout the Bible, we see that the Lord is always at work in bringing hope out of seemingly hopeless situations.
I am filled with hope when I think about the ways that the Lord brings redemption through Christ to the sinful state of man (Romans 1-3) by obedient faith (Romans 4-5) that culminates in the act of baptism (Romans 6:3-4).
Doesn’t the assurance that God will strengthen us with the help of the Holy Spirit (as we resist the fleshy impulses that would lead us to sin) give us hope (Romans 8:1-13)?
Isn’t it encouraging to know of the promise that one day God will renew the physical creation which was subjected to futility “in hope” of redemption (Romans 8:14-22)?
Do you join with me in the hope of the resurrection of our physical bodies (Roman’s 8:23-30)?
Hope encourages me when I face obstacles, hardships, and persecutions (Romans 8:31-39), in the assurance that God is going to work all things together for good, according to His foreknown and predestined plan (Romans 9-11).
Second, the Apostle teaches us about the supplication of hope. Hope in difficult circumstances is tied to relying on God through the avenue of prayer. If we want to have the hope of God in our difficult trials of life, we need to learn to present our heart’s desires and burdens to the Lord in prayer (1 1 Thessalonians 5:17; Philippians 4:6-7; 1 Peter 5:6-7).
The text tells us what Paul prayed for the church: that they would be filled with all “joy and peace in believing.” “Joy” means a “quiet delight,” a sense of serenity, one that comes especially from realizing that you are loved by God and that He is with you (cf. Nehemiah 8:10). “Peace” is a calmness of spirit in the midst of turbulent trials and conditions (cf. Psalm 46). These are the result of “believing” or trusting in the God of hope, Who is at work in our circumstances to bring good.
Notice that as we “keep on” praying this prayer, we will “keep on” being filled with all joy and peace as we “keep on” believing. The verbs of this passage show us this is a continual prayer and ongoing “filling” as we continue to pray and “keep on” believing. We also need to pray for those blessings for others, as Paul did for the brothers and sisters at Rome.
Do you pray for your family and your church family that the God of hope will fill them with all joy and peace in believing, that they may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit?
Finally, notice the strengthening of hope. It is Paul’s prayer that the God of hope will help the church to “abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” To “abound” means to excel, to grow, to persevere, and to become stronger. Amazingly, it is often in the difficult circumstances of life that God helps us to grow stronger as His people.
No matter what you are facing, trust in the God of Hope!
Father, we thank You for the hope that You give us. Continue to strengthen and help us. Amen.