Devotion shared with Student & Young Adult Group – Sunday 29th March

An extract from “Reading between the Lines” by Glen Scrivener

Hope against Hope Romans 3:21-4:25

It’s the hope you have when you have no hope.

Abraham was ninety nine years old and Sarah ninety when they were a promised child, Isaac. As Genesis 18:11 puts it in the Old King James  translation: “Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and  it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” Nonetheless, the promise comes from the Lord: “Sarah, your wife, will have a son” (Genesis 18:10).

That’s not just difficult, it's impossible. So what do you do when faced with the Lord's Word on one hand and human impossibility on the other? You hope against hope:

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening his faith, he faced the fact his body was as good as dead - since he was about a hundred years old - and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief  regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. This is why it was credited to him as righteousness.“ (Romans 4:18-22).

What does saving faith look like? It looks like Abraham’s “hope against hope”. Paul is in the middle of a magisterial exposition  of the gospel , showing how salvation comes not through our goodness but God’s grace, not through our faithfulness but Christ’s, no through our power but the Spirit’s. Salvation is God’s thing.  It’s not our thing. We simply receive a salvation that we could never earn. 

And so Paul chooses an example of faith which is the true case of “hope against hope”. Abraham  is completely “out of the driver's seat” when the Lord comes to him. Not only does he not meet the Lord halfway, he can’t meet the Lord halfway.  All he can do is rest in the Lord’s promise and say, “Amen, let it be so.” 

This is faith: the promise of new life comes and faith says, “Nothing in my circumstances and nothing in all my power can make this happen but, Lord, I know you can!” The promised seed is held out and faith says, “I cannot produce the Messiah, indeed I am incapable of even receiving the Messiah, yet Lord, you say he is given to me, so I will trust you.”

The cost for faith is a dark and barren space. There is no possibility for life and yet exactly here the Lord promises it. Whether it’s Sarah’s barren womb, Mary’s virgin womb, or Christ’s virgin tomb, we are confronted with the deepest human weakness and the greatest divine strength. Faith is “hope against hope”, because faith is the opposite of sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). The circumstances look hopeless, yet faith is trusting the Lord’s Word and not in our capacities. In fact it is when we despair of our earthly hopes that true hope can arise.

If our hope was only as good as our own resources, we would be on shaky ground indeed. Imagine a faith in human power to triumph over the dark and barren space of the tomb! No, we trust God’s power to do the impossible. That is far more solid ground. We thank God that he makes our hope more certain than any earthly possibilities. He wants our faith to rest on his power not ours. 

So today, be a person of hope. Not because your sunny circumstances inspire it, not because your optimistic personality produces it, not because your hard work can manufacture it. Hope against hope, trusting in the God of resurrection and the Lord of the impossible. Today hope in what Abraham held dear: God will do what God has promised.

Stewart North