CALLED TO HOPE

“Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.  ‎I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing.  ‎I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” (Genesis 12:1-3)

A number of years ago a submarine was rammed by a ship and sunk to the bottom of the sea.  The crew was trapped, even as frantic attempts were made to rescue them.  One of the divers thought he heard a tapping on the submarine’s hull—and putting his head against the steel shell recognized Morse Code and the repeated question  “Is…there…any…hope?” (paraphrased from Swindoll’s Ultimate Quote of Illustrations and Quotes) 

In the Garden of Eden, humanity was struck by sin and began to sink.  In fact, mankind sank so rapidly that by the time of Noah, the depth of depravity caused God to wash over them in waves of wrath. 

Only Noah and his family emerged from the ark, for a fresh start.  But that didn’t last long and by the time we reach Genesis 12, the world is immersed in idolatry.  At the bottom again, comes a tapping, “Is there any hope?”

It was then that the sovereign grace of God reached into the hotbed of heathenism and called a man named Abram.  He was called to hope, and in his story we find hope in our perverse age.  This week we will listen to that tap, tap, tap, “Is there any hope?” and hear how grace responds.

“But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” (Rom.5:20b).  Now—there’s some hope!