“Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer;”
Rejoicing in hope, be patient in tribulation, and continue in prayer: three pieces of good advice from a wise Apostle exhorting his Christian brothers. True, but the easy mistake to make is just go on through the passage, seeing this as a continuation of a list of exhortations and not realize the beauty of this triune verse. Notice how these three phrases aren’t just three more phrases added on to Paul’s exhortation series, but look—a semi-colon! The verse doesn’t read: “and rejoicing in hope, and patient in tribulation, and also continuing steadfastly in prayer” but they are knitted divinely together like a symphonic trio composing one of the rich melodies of the Christian life.
“Rejoicing in hope” anything that’s good—rejoice! Anything virtuous—rejoice! Anything of the Lord—rejoice! Such is one of the keys to correctly follow the next two exhortations, for we will only be able to be “patient in tribulation” when our minds and souls are rejoicing in the Lord, the source of goodness and hope. Thus, when our source of rejoicing is in the Lord, we will be in constant prayer with Him and “continue steadfastly” in sweet fellowship with Him. This in turn makes us rejoice more in the Lord, and able to persevere through tribulation.
Application: When I’m down in my unbelieving like state of “self-pitying” I have to turn to the Lord in prayer and rejoice in the hope that is within Him so that I may persevere through the suffering that I’m going through. I also must be careful when I’m following this verse well in my life because even if I lose one of these, it might catalyze me to lose the rest of these states. It’s much like the Trinity, if I have the Son, I have both the Spirit and the Father, and so if I’m rejoicing in hope, I will patiently endure tribulation, and continue steadfastly in prayer. May I enjoy such fellowship!
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