Many of the gentiles Paul was shepherding felt like “the God of hope” was inaccessible to them. They had been told as much in the past — they needed to become Jews to receive the Spirit — and even after the Church decided otherwise, such restrictive thinking was hard to break. Among Paul’s audience were gentiles who believed God would not receive them, nor could they access Him if He would. Paul knew this was not true, and prefaced this encouraging verse with scripture that affirmed their place with the God of hope.

Most of us have barriers like that, areas where God seems undeserved or inaccessible; perhaps internal logic and external voices have implanted our lack of access to hope, joy and peace so utterly that they may as well be on another planet. Paul’s words apply to us: the God of hope can bring these things, and the Spirit can bring it to overflowing. Our first step is to believe that this could not just be true, but true for you, and the second is to trust that truth with access to your life.

This feels too reckless when hope, joy, and peace have felt distant, and hopeless, sorrow, and anxiety feel oppressively close. To dream of “overflowing hope” risks too great a let-down! Perhaps this is why Paul does not instruct them here to muster hope; perhaps he knows, in their case, God must do it, through the power of the Spirit. Perhaps He will do so for us as well.