May 23rd Devotion

Hoping Against All Hope
By Kelly Balarie

“Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations.” - Romans 4:18 NLT

I didn’t have a dime in my pocket and the clock was ticking. I was either going to find money for rent or I’d be out on the streets, or that is how it felt anyway. Rent was due. Hundreds of dollars were in my bank account, but surely not enough for my husband and I to cover the thousands due. Doing the only thing one can in a situation like this, we prayed. Until the day came that our rent was due –now!!!

Waking up to this fact, with a grain of hope in my pocket, likely a coffee in-hand, we opened our mailbox, only to find – a colossal miracle. A check! An answer to prayers! A God-sized solution! The check we held onto was two-times as much as rent due. Wow. Our mouths most certainly dropped.

Who was it from? It was from a Jewish woman. One, we years ago, traveled more than 100 miles to share Jesus with. We hadn’t talked to her since that day she let Jesus in her heart, but I guess she now died – and, apparently, left us in her will.

My mind remembered back to the horrid drive we made to her house all those years ago… How we wrestled with traffic to make it to her. How we knew she was going to die. The sobriety we felt because she was about to meet her Maker. I also remembered how we wanted to turn around. How we argued. I remembered the business call that came in telling us we were losing business. Against all hope, we hoped that she would come to know Jesus. There was no hope on that ride, but we still hoped and carried on…

Someone else I know hoped against all hope. His name was Abraham. Scripture says that Abraham, “against all hope”, still hoped. God gave Abraham a promise. He told Abraham, “I have made you the father of many nations” (Romans 4:17), but Abraham and Sarah were old. How could they ever conceive? Even more, Abraham faced the greatest test of faith, having to lay the promise, his son Isaac, on an altar of slaughter. How would this all work? Yet, it did -- work, even in the face of no hope, because Abraham’s hope still partnered with God’s promise. How?

Scripture tells us, “…this happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.” (Romans 4:17)

We can hope, like Abraham. We can believe against all natural circumstances, against all barriers, against all the issues, against all attacks, against everyone who speaks against us, against appearances that good things are dying -- and still hope. We hope against all hope, as we do these two scriptural things:

Believe God has all power to bring dead things back to life.
Believe God creates new things out of nothing.

What might look dead in your life? Believe in God as Resurrection-Life. What looks unseen in your world? Believe in God as Creator. These beliefs build hope.

Hope believes. Hope proceeds anyway. Hope watches God’s promise show up, His way.
But, never, give up. Always, continue to hope against all hope.