May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 15:13

God gets many titles and epithets, but none of them is more easy to relate to and fervently needed as “God of hope”. This world is full of death, disappointment, fear, anxiety and every kind of trouble. God is the God who balances all of those worldly concerns with eternal, transcendent, sustaining hope. He lifts us through all of those things into his presence, not so we can cling to a little shred of hope but so that we have more hope than we can contain. The joy and peace he brings us are not merely emotional, psychological and temporary, but a result of his presence, the Holy Spirit. How could God’s people, blessed with is presence, not overflow with hope in his power?

Ethan Kirl