‘Now the God of Hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in Hope, in the power of the Holy Ghost’ (Rom. 15:13).
We all need to abound in Hope. Hope is the artist of the soul. Faith fills us with joy and peace, which brim over in Hope. When Faith brings from God’s word the materials of anticipation and expectation, Hope transfers the fair colors to her palette, and with a few deft dashes of her brush delineates the soul’s immortal and unfading hope. Faith thus excites Hope to her fairest work, until presently the walls of our soul become radiant with frescoes. Our faith rests on God’s word, and hope rests on faith, and such hope cannot be ashamed. It is the anchor of the soul, which enters that which is within the veil, and links us to the shores of eternity (Heb. 6:18, 19).
Faith rests on the promises of God. She does not calculate on feeling, is indifferent to emotion, but with both hands clings to some word of promise, and looking into God’s face, says: ‘ Thou canst not be unfaithful.’ W hen God has promised aught to thee, it is as certain as if thou hadst it in hand. Faith not only takes the word of God, and rests her weight on it, but often when hard-pressed goes beyond the Bible back to God himself, and argues that God is faithful and cannot deny himself. Because God is God, he must ever act worthily of himself.
It was thus that Moses argued when he was with him in the Holy Mount – to do thus, would not be worthy of thyself! (Num. 14:13-20). We may be assailed with a hundred questions of doubt in the day, but must no more notice them than a barking cur. A businessman once said that when he is convinced of the rightness of a certain course, he is sometimes assailed by doubts which arise like the cloud-mist of the valley, or the marsh gas from the swamp; but when thus tempted, he turns to the promises of God, often reading three or four chapters of the Old Testament. This brings him in touch with the eternal world, filling him with joy and peace and abounding hope in believing, through the power of the Holy Ghost. They shall not be ashamed that hope in him!
Prayer:
Make me, O Lord, to know the Hope of thy calling, the riches of the glory of thine inheritance in the saints, and the exceeding greatness of thy power toward them that believe. Above all, grant me the spirit of wisdom and rev- elation in the knowledge of thyself. Amen.
On F. B. Meyer’s death in 1929 The Daily Telegraph called him ‘The Archbishop of the Free Churches’. The New York Observer noted that ‘He has an international fame and his services are constantly sought by churches over the wide and increasing empire of Christendom.’ To the secular press of his time he was a key player on the world scene. Meyer was the minister one of Britain’s first ‘megachurches’. He was friends with D. L. Moody and ministered on both sides of the Atlantic, mirroring in America what D. L. Moody was able to undertake in the U.K. He came from a conventional, middle class Victorian background and experienced no dramatic conversion. He was not a distinguished scholar or dramatic orator. His slight figure and retiring manner meant that he did not stand out in a crowd. Yet he drew crowds by the thousands, wrote books, which sold by the millions, and attracted working class people.The range of Meyer’s activities is astonishing: preacher, pastor, writer, social activist, free church leader, Baptist president, advocate for missionary work and more. In his last years, he declared, ‘If I had a hundred lives, they should be at Christ’s disposal.’ At times, it seemed as though he was living a hundred lives!
Where to Buy:
Our Daily Walk: Daily Readings by F. B. Meyer is available at any good Christian bookstore. If you don’t have a Christian bookstore near you, you may want to consider purchasing a copy from one of the online book retailers listed below:
