Romans 8:25

Verse of the Day Devotion: Romans 8:25 

“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it.” – Romans 8:25     

Paul here is building upon the idea expressed in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1.  This verse lays out the definition of faith we see throughout the New Testament.  Paul now speaks of hope declared in the above verse.  Hope signifies the expectation of some future good.  Not something that has already happened or is occurring right now.  In this context it is something that we are sure will happen, and we are comfortable that we will, at some point, receive it.

So, by definition then, we hope only for those things we do not see.  And when we put it together with Hebrews 11:1 we see how faith and hope work together.  Hope is the expectation of a future good.  Faith goes beyond expectation and is, as the writer of Hebrews states, the substance or reality of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not yet seen.  The fact that God exists and that He has created all there is, and that we have a relationship with Him, is the substance of our expectations.  We hope for things in the future because of what has happened previously. 

Back to Romans 8, we see in the verse just prior to our focus verse the following, “For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?” Romans 8:24.  We are saved in hope because we do not see all that our salvation entails.  Yes, we see our life changed, how our focus becomes Christ and not ourselves.  We understand that our sins are forgiven, and we are united with Christ. We see these present changes in us.  However, there is more yet to be revealed.  There is the second coming of Christ where He comes to bring an end to this world as it is now.  And there is the new heaven and earth which replaces what now exists with a perfect existence where we will live with God forever.  These are things not yet seen, these are some of the things we ‘hope’ for.

Therefore, with all this said, we hope for many things that are not visible now.  And we have faith that these things will happen because of all God has done up to this day.  And if we hope for these things, we will persevere and stand against anything that attempts to convince us otherwise.  We will wait eagerly for it because our future, eternal life will be so much better than what we have now.  We should live our lives now, fulfilling the calling God has placed on us, to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20.  But we should also look forward to what we know is coming, as the verse says, waiting eagerly with perseverance. 

It is important to never forget or push aside that which we hope for.  It is part of our amazing eternal life promised us by God, and it is through this perseverance that we remain strong and devoted to our Lord.  What He has promised, He will fulfill.  In this we can have confidence.  On this is our foundation that helps us stand firm.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries. 

Psalm 5:3

Verse of the Day Devotion: Psalm 5:3 

“In the morning, O LORD, you will hear my voice; In the morning I will order my prayer to You and eagerly watch.” – Psalm 5:3  

Psalm 5 is a psalm of David.  As we proceed here, you will see this is considered a morning prayer, one that is used to start the day. David starts by asking God to hear his prayer.  “Give ear to my words, O LORD, Consider my groaning.” Psalm 5:1. He pleas with God to hear the words of his prayer, not simply the words from his mouth, but the meditations, the groanings of his heart. The word groanings refers to whispers, murmurings and musings; those things which are not necessarily said but felt. 

Next, “Heed the sound of my cry for help, my King and my God, For to You I pray.” Psalm 5:2. He is asking God to assist and help him.  He calls out to God to hear him, to attend to his cries for help, acknowledging the one who he is praying to as his king and his God. He is crying out only to Him and no one else.  For he understands that the true God who he serves is the one who hears him and answers his prayers.  He does not call out to any idol or false god, only to the true God and creator of all.

He then, in our focus verse, declares these prayers in the morning, as soon as he wakes up he calls out to God.  Notice that this is not so much a prayer of request but a prayer of resolution.  You will hear my voice.  I will direct my prayer to you.  And I will eagerly watch for your answer for I know it will come and I will rejoice over it. 

I believe this is a wonderful example of how we should communicate with God.  We should take the morning when we first wake up to spend this time with our King and our God.  We should cry out to Him with our words and open ourselves to present our hearts and minds to Him.  Often, we do not have words to express our feelings, our pain and disappointments, our failings and regrets.  However, we should not attempt to hide these for He does hear our words as well as our groanings and inward thoughts.  We must understand we cannot hide anything from Him.  He knows our requests, needs, hurts and failings long before we were even born, for He knows the end from the beginning. 

And as we look at our focus verse, we must declare to ourselves that He absolutely will hear our voice.  There can be no question regarding this.  And not only our words, but our feelings as well.  He will not close His ears to us.  John put it this way. “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.” 1 John 5:13-15. 

Lets make the first thing we do when we wake up be going before God and spending concerted time in prayer. Let us lift up to Him our needs, fears, thoughts and feelings knowing that He hears us and loves us.  And then anxiously await His answer.  Do not only look for what we want or expect as His answer, but also what we may not expect.  He knows what is best, and we must take His answer and run with it, rejoicing as we go forward.  There is no better way to start the day.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.