Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
In the 1950s, a Harvard psychologist named Dr. Curt Richter conducted a now-famous experiment involving rats and buckets of water. At first glance, it was a grim study, but a profound truth about the human spirit was buried within it.
In his initial test, Richter placed rats in water to see how long they could swim before giving up. On average, they lasted just 15 minutes before succumbing to exhaustion. But then something remarkable happened, he added the possibility of hope to see the results.
Just before the rats were about to drown, Richter would reach in, pull them out, dry them off, let them rest, and then return them to the water.
And this time?
They didn’t just swim another 15 minutes.
They lasted hours with one rat that continued to swim for an astonishing 60 hours.
What changed? Richter concluded “the rats quickly learn that the situation is not actually hopeless” and that “after elimination of hopelessness the rats do not die.”
Because they had been rescued once, the rats now believed they might be rescued again—and that hope gave them the strength to endure far beyond what they were capable of before.
Let that settle in your heart for a moment: hope kept them swimming.
If hope can keep a tired rat going for 60 hours, imagine what hope in God can do in your life.
Difficult seasons are inevitable. But the crushing weight of hopelessness is far more dangerous than hardship itself.
Hope doesn’t deny the difficulty — it gives us strength in the middle of it. It lifts our eyes off the storm and fixes them on the Savior. And sometimes, that small flicker of hope is all we need to keep swimming.
That’s why Scripture reminds us that the God of hope is able to fill us with joy and peace as we trust in Him—so that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can overflow with hope even in the hardest moments.
Perhaps you feel like you’re treading water, moments from going under. Maybe someone close to you is silently struggling to stay afloat. Never underestimate the power of hope, especially the kind rooted in Yeshua (Jesus). It can carry you further than you ever imagined.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]Yesterday, in our devotional I spoke of the two rains in Israel, the early rain and the latter rain. The prophet Joel speaks prophetically of these two rainy seasons in connection with the outpouring of God's spirit.
For much of the year, Israel receives little to no rain. The early rains ( "Yoreh") begin at the time of the Fall Feasts, September-October, and the "Latter Rain (“Malkosh”) concludes the rainy season around the time of the Spring festival of Passover.
En Gedi is a nature reserve about 40 minutes from our home. Surrounded by dry, barren, rocky ground, except to the east where the Dead Sea lies, it is an oasis, fed year round by springs of fresh water, and home to some of the most unique wild and botanical life in the world.
A father asked his son to carry a letter from their camp to the village. He pointed out a trail over which the lad had never gone before. “All right Dad, but I don’t see how that path will ever reach the town,” said the boy. “Well son, I'll tell you how. Do you see that big tree down the path?” asked the father. “Oh, yes, I see that far.” “Well, when you get there by the tree, you’ll see the trail a little farther ahead -- and farther down you'll see another big tree -- and when you reach that one you'll be closer and so on until you get within sight of the houses of the village.”
Yesterday was a big day for us, but especially for baby Obi. He was circumcised in the presence of our friends and family (many of them not believers) at our congregation in Tel Aviv. We had the chance to share about the false report we got concerning Obi's health and how the doctors told us to abort him early on. I tied in the faith that Abraham must have had, especially concerning circumcision. There may not have been a dry eye in the house. Thank you, God!
What a week we've been having! We're getting ready to fly to the States for a much needed time, to see our families and to share what's going on here in the Land. Along with all the hustle and bustle of packing, running loads of errands and training a new volunteer, we just got word that the airport employees have begun a strike and customers have not been able to get on their flights all day. Not only that, we've been having computer problems galore! As the saying goes -- when it rains it pours!
Many times, our unbelieving family and coworkers -- society in general, can make us feel small and inferior -- like second class citizens -- because we are Christians. Unfortunately, somewhere along the line, somehow, we begin to believe it! We become what I like to call "mopey Christians," just moping around, keeping our faith hidden under a bushel, feeling afraid to say a word about Jesus, in fear that we might offend someone! And that's precisely what the enemy wants us to feel!