"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing"
It is a question we ought to ask ourselves, in our quiet hours of meditation, whether we really know the joy and peace which are the benediction of our text.
It is a great thing to be resigned amid the various buffetings of life. Resignation is better than rebellion.
But resignation, however good it is, is not peculiarly a Christian virtue; it marks the stoic rather than the Christian.
The Christian attitude towards the ills of life is something more triumphant than acceptance. It has an exultant note that resignation lacks.
It is acceptance with a song in it. It is such a reaction to experience as suggests the certainty of victory - the victory that overcomes the world.
It is a searching question for us all, then, whether we truly know this joy and peace. Does it characterize our spiritual life? Is it evident in our discipleship?
And that not only on the Lord's day and in the sanctuary, but in our routine dealings with the world.
