Clay in the Hands

I am getting really close to finishing the book of Romans.  Today I read further into chapter 15 and was reminded that I need to work on trusting God more.

Paul offers a blessing right in the middle of the chapter which I find a little odd.  Normally, Paul opens his letters with a formal greeting and then somewhere near the end he closes with a form of a blessing.

But here it is right there in verse 13.  He reminds us that one of the characteristics of God is hope and that God will fill each of us with joy and peace as we trust.

It would be easy to read over this verse (as I have done before) and miss the implication of Paul’s words.  He says that God will fill us with joy and peace as we trust God.

How many times do we pray and beg God for peace about something.  Or how often do we pray for God to make us happy or make things “good.”  And then as soon as we finish praying, we sit there and expect God to make it happen immediately.  We often expect some kind of Godly intervention to miraculously happen that makes our lives alright.

What Paul is saying is that the joy and peace will come but it will come when we let go of our expectations and trust that God really does know what we need.

Speaking from first-hand, real-life experience – that is very easy to write in this post but much more difficult to put into practice.  But today – that is what I am going to do!

So, in the words of Paul (Romans 15:13)

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.