Read: Romans 4:13-35

God…gives life to the dead
and calls those things which
do not exist as though they
did. -Romans 4:17

Her eyes saw the leafless trees in winter, but because
her mind was clouded by Alzheimer’s disease she thought
the trees were dead. “Someone should cut down those
trees,” she would repeat day after day. “They aren’t
coming back.”

How often we see our “leafless” circumstances with a
mind clouded by past experience and disappointment. We
may look at a friendship, a marriage, a family feud, and
say to ourselves, “Cut it down. Sever the tie. Make
the break. It’s hopeless!” But God wants us to see
with hope because of His presence and power. We can’t
bring life to these seemingly impossible situations, but
He can.

God’s promise to Abraham that he would have a son
seemed to have expired with age. Sarah his wife was
barren, and his own body was “dead” at the age of a
hundred (Rom. 4:19; Heb. 11:11-12). Yet Abraham
believed God, “who gives life to the dead and calls
those things which do not exist as though they did; who,
contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became
the father of many nations” (Rom. 4:17-18).

What leafless, lifeless situation do you see today?
Don’t believe everything your mind tells you about it.
Instead ask God for eyes of faith that see with hope.
-David C. McCasland

Our physical eyes do not always see
The work God is doing today,
But hope in God’s Word will surely bear fruit,
Though often there is a delay. -Hess

HOPE, LIKE AN ANCHOR, IS FIXED ON THE UNSEEN.

OUR DAILY BREAD, Copyright 1998 by Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids,Michigan. Used by permission.