“Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Romans 12:12)
Sometimes the commands of the Bible feel impossible. I’m thinking specifically of the commands to rejoice. How am I supposed to just up and be full of praise? That isn’t a thing that naturally wells up in my heart, especially not early in the morning or in frustrating times. So when I read Romans 12:12, which says, “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer,” I tend to feel stuck at first.
But we need to see the whole verse. We are not called only to “rejoice” but to rejoice in hope. And what hope are we to rejoice in? None other than the hope we have in Jesus, the sealed and confirmed hope of eternal life and joy with him.
Then it says to be patient in tribulation. Frankly, that sounds even harder than rejoicing. Except that, again, we have hope. So while waiting and persevering aren’t pleasurable, we can do them confidently because of Jesus.
Finally, we aren’t left with the idea that we must do these things in our own power. The verse says to be constant in prayer, so we are to constantly depend on God as we rejoice and persevere. We pray for help. We pray so that our eyes are lifted to where our hope lies. And we pray because communion with God will fill our hearts with rejoicing, no matter the circumstances.
I originally wrote this post for my church, Immanuel Nashville, in our Daily Pulse email. If you want encouragement from God’s word delivered Monday thru Friday to your inbox, I encourage you to subscribe!
