Hope’s Witness

Let us ponder the gold mine of Romans 4:18 which says Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations…  I find here a witness of examplefrom the life of Abraham. If there ever was one who believed in hope when there was no evidence to hope , it was Abraham. How could a man believe his wife would bring forth  a son from a barren womb, when she was 90 and he was a 100? They hoped in God and He did not fail them. How could a man be obedient to God to kill his boy and offer him for a burnt offering? Abraham hoped in God’s ability to raise him from the dead. He hoped when there was nothing to hope in.  There is in our text a witness of earnest. A n earnest is a down payment. Abraham is the father of all who believe, so it is passed to his spiritual seed the ability to hope( put confident expectations in the Lord) when there is nothing visible to hope in.  There is in our text, verse 17 a witness of excess.  We are told God gives his people the hope to call the thing that are not as though they were. What a powerful prayer tool we have.  My what a  witness of hope the good Holy Ghost has laid before us today.