“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Romans 15:13)
When I place my hope in people (i.e., when I focus my expectations on them), I am often disappointed. Unrealistic expectations are the cause as much as anything others do or don’t do.
When I place my hope in God, though, I’m never disappointed. While I get impatient because I fail in fully trusting his timing, he always shows up bigger and better than my expectations.
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
I’m realizing that he wants to show me how to embrace hope based on him. He wants me to rely on what he tells me in his word. In this, he is teaching me to develop a habit of hope focused on him.
“Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” (Isaiah 30:18)
